Right now, in April 2024, the Vatican’s flagship telescope is being transformed into a fully automated, robotic telescope.
Last year, the Vatican Observatory celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), located on Mt. Graham in Arizona (USA). The VATT’s name comes from its radical design, now found in the world’s largest telescopes (actually, the VATT’s full, proper name is the Alice P. Lennon Telescope, housed in the Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility). Now the Observatory is transforming the VATT for the future.