Two new celestial bodies named after members of the Order

Confessor of St Faustina honoured with asteroid

Paris - Religious men have shaped astronomy for centuries – Jesuits in particular have been immortalised in the night sky time and time again. Two new asteroids named after men of the order once again include a Jesuit – but he is known for something else.

Published  on 04.02.2025 at 11:19  – 

Two other religious are honoured with the naming of an asteroid. Two celestial bodies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter will in future bear the names of the Jesuit Józef Andrasz (1891-1963) and the Barnabite priest Francesco Maria Denza (1834-1894), the working group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) responsible for naming the asteroids announced in its current bulletin with. The official names of the asteroids are "(722063) Andrasz" and "(127664) Denza" .

Unlike many other Jesuits honoured with asteroid names, the Jesuit Józef Andrasz did not become famous for his scientific work, but as a spiritual author and translator. In particular, he was the confessor of the saintly mystic Faustyna Kowalskaon whom the devotional image of the "merciful Jesus" is based. The asteroid named after Andrasz was discovered by the Jesuit Richard P. Boyle and the Lithuanian astronomer Kazimieras Černis. Last year, an asteroid discovered by Černis was named after the Polish national hero and Jesuit Polish national hero and Jesuit Piotr Skarga (1536-1612) was baptised.

Denza was a meteorologist and astronomer and a pupil of the Jesuit Angelo Secchi, one of the founders of astrophysics. The Barnabite first founded the meteorological observatory in Moncalieri near Turin and initiated the weather observation network from which today's Italian Meteorological Society emerged. Under Denza's leadership, Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) had the Vatican Observatory rebuilt on the Vatican Hill behind St Peter's Basilica.

Pioneer of weather observation and celestial mapping

In 1887, Denza represented the Vatican at the Paris Astronomical Congress, at which the "Carte du Ciel" project for mapping the starry sky was agreed. The actual mapping of the celestial zone assigned to the Vatican was carried out by nuns from the Suore di Maria Bambina community, who mapped almost half a million stars between 1917 and 1921. Four of them were honoured last year by the naming of asteroids.

So far, it is mainly Jesuits who have been immortalised in space: Over 40 asteroids are named after members of the order. Most of these are members of the order who carry out research as scientists at the Vatican Observatory. Other asteroids have been named in recent years after Popes Benedict XVI. (2005-2013) and Gregory XIII (1572-1585).

The naming of asteroids is a multi-stage process. A new celestial body is registered when it is observed by an observer on two consecutive nights. The sightings must then be reported to the IAU's Minor Planet Centre, which assigns a provisional identification number. Previous sightings of previously unidentified celestial bodies are then compared with the new sighting and any duplicates are merged. As soon as an exact orbit can be determined from the data, the asteroid is given a permanent number. The right to choose a name belongs to the researcher who has provided enough data to calculate the orbit, i.e. not necessarily the first discoverer. The proposed name is then reviewed by the Working Group on the Naming of Small Celestial Bodies and finally officially published. (fxn)