Among 24 students from all over the world, Andrea and Gabriela were selected for the XVI Vatican Observatory Summer School, which topic was stellar variability in the era of the large surveys.
Alonso Luna, a student from Mexico, who attended XVI VOSS, joined our PhD program in 2019.
The Vatican Observatory, located in the Papal Gardens at Castelgandolfo, has telescopes in Rome and in Arizona, USA, and has the largest tradition in astronomy, traced back to the establishment by Pope Gregory XIII of a committee to study the scientific data and implications involved in the reform of the calendar which occurred in 1582.
Nowadays, the VOSS is one of the most prestigious schools in astrophysics, giving the students an intense academic training and also practical, with original research and access to large databases, the future of astronomy.
The Vatican Observatory also granted them an audience with Pope Francis.
Br. Robert J. Macke of the Vatican Observatory produced this video interviewing the students at VOSS 2018.