The system, named Don, in honor of Donald Martin Alstadt (1921-2007), former president and CEO of the Lord Corporation, was installed on June 3, 2024.
The completion of the installation was followed by a testing phase and training of the Vatican Observatory community, and staff from the University of Arizona.
This sophisticated automation allows the telescope to operate with extraordinary accuracy of aim, down to 3 arcseconds, the size of a marble placed in a large stadium.
With the Don system, the VATT is able to track celestial objects for up to 20 minutes with pinpoint accuracy, without the need for manual guidance.
“It’s really exciting,” says Fr. Paul Gabor, deputy director of the Vatican Observatory in Arizona.
The Don system will offer a variety of operating modes, from traditional mode for easier on-site use, to remote mode that will allow astronomers to control the VATT in Arizona from the Vatican Observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, which dates back to the 16th century.
The VATT telescope, whose 6-foot mirror was the first made using revolutionary spin-casting technologies—later used to make the world’s largest telescopes—celebrated its 30th anniversary last September.
It is housed in the Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Complex in Arizona, where the Vatican opened its second research center after Castel Gandolfo in 1981 to escape European light pollution.
The Don Project was made possible by a grant from the Thomas Lord Charitable Foundation and a gift from Mrs. Judith Alstadt, wife of Donald M. Alstadt.
The project represents the 30th telescope installation by ProjectSoft HK, a pioneer in the field of industrial automation.