Sam Miller
On Sunday, Feb. 15, the SaddleBrooke Skygazers Astronomy Club will present Father Paul Gabor, an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory Research Group at the University of Arizona. The program presentation will be at the DesertView Theater, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, at 7 p.m. Father Gabor’s presentation will explain that the Earth is starting to spin faster, and scientists are considering something unprecedented.
Over the past few billion years, Earth’s rotation has been slowing down, which scientists think is largely due to the gradual drift of the moon away from our planet. However, since 2020, the planet has been spinning ever so slightly faster. The reference is only a couple of milliseconds, which, for most of us, is totally imperceptible. However, for computers, GPS, banking systems, large telescopes, and electricity networks around the world that rely on incredibly accurate synchronization to operate, every millisecond counts.
Paul Gabor has been involved in the leap second debate for 15 years. The leap second started out as an astronomical thing. Believe it or not, it has to do with solar eclipses and the Babylonians. Even the most recent part about the Earth’s spin-up is an astronomical thing, because Earth’s rotation and orientation in space is monitored by astronomers. Nobody, including the geoscientists, has a hard scientific explanation as to what is causing the spin-up—just some hand-waving.
Father Gabor became a Jesuit in 1995 and was ordained in 2004. He holds a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Paris (Saclay), joined the Vatican Observatory in 2010, and was then based in Tucson in 2011. He was named vice director of the Vatican Observatory Research Group in 2012, his main responsibility being the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) atop Mount Graham near Safford, Ariz. An overhaul of VATT’s control system was completed in June of 2024. Father Gabor’s research interests are in Particle Physics, Astrobiology, Exoplanets, and Instrumentation and Detectors. He is also an Adjunct Associate Astronomer and member of the Faculty in the Department of Astronomy.
The SaddleBrooke Skygazers Astronomy Club meets monthly (and typically) on the second Sunday (third Sunday this month) at 7 p.m. at the DesertView Theater. The next Star Parties are on Tuesday, March 17 and Thursday, March 19, at the softball field parking lot from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The public is welcome to both meetings and Star Parties. Club and Star Party information can be obtained by reviewing our website at sbazsky.xakt.me or by emailing Sam Miller at twoyosemite@gmail.com.