Name: Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena XIV
Start: 2026-10-05T08:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-10-11T18:00:00+00:00
Location: INAF Astronomical Observatory of Rome

Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena XIV

from Monday, 5 October 2026 (08:00) to Sunday, 11 October 2026 (18:00)

Monday, 5 October 2026

11:00 Opening in Villa Mondragone - Welcome from INAF, INSAP, VatObs, VatLib and SAIt

11:00 - 11:30

11:30 Opening keynote lecture

11:30 - 12:10
12:10 Session 1: The Heritage of INSAP
12:10 - 13:00
Contributions

12:10 In Memoriam Rolf Sinclair - John Hatch

12:20 Inspiration, Awe and Education in Cultural Astronomy - Nick Campion

12:40 Art and Astronomy at Castel Gandolfo - John David Mooney
13:00 Lunch
Lunch
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 Session 2: Ancient Astronomy
14:00 - 16:50
Contributions

14:00 "This Teti is off to the sky, this Teti is off to the sky, as Shu-the air together with Ra-the sun."/PT spell 259 (T194)/ –all ancient Egyptian roads lead to the sky - Joanna Popielska Grzybowska

14:20 Ancient Sky Charts of Telangana, South India - Kudupudi Pulla Rao Raju Chittoori Praveen

14:40 The Sky Above the Hills: Catasterism in Mizo Cultural Astronomy - S. Malsawmkimi Samuel V.L. Thlanga

15:00 The Celestial Architecture of Emperor Hadrian - Marina De Franceschini

15:20 ARA·PACIS·AVGVSTAE: An Astro-Architectural Analysis - Vance Tiede

15:40 Mithraic Cosmology and the Ascent of the Soul - George Latura

16:00 A study on the astral ornamentation and orientation of Galician Hórreos - Ana Ulla Miguel
16:50 Session 3: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
16:50 - 17:50
Contributions

16:50 This is not the Moon. Lunar maps and scientific representations as "felicitous falsehoods" - Mario Compiani

17:10 Filippo Zamboni and the "Bacio nella Luna" in the Italian astronomical debate of the late 19th century - Tiziana Macaluso

17:30 In Light of the Moon: Lunar Lessons in Modern Art - John Hatch
17:50 Poster Session: Latura G. – Ulla Miguel A.– Roberts E.
Latura G. – Ulla Miguel A.– Roberts E.
17:50 - 18:10

18:30 Welcome Cocktail

18:30 - 21:50
Tuesday, 6 October 2026
09:10 Session 4: The Allure of the Skies Throughout History
09:10 - 11:40
Contributions

09:10 The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena in St Albans: a Case Study - Valerie Shrimplin

09:30 Astronomical Imagery in English Renaissance Poetry - Richard Poss

09:50 A Physicist and an Astronomer in the Alps: John Tyndall and Sir James Jeans - Holly Henry

10:10 Divine inspiration as a vigor motrix of Kepler’s Scientific Thought - Karine Dilanian

10:30 Cosmic Dust and a Stone That Is Not a Meteorite - Niklas Hietala

10:50 The pendulum, a mechanical model for planetary motion - Philippe Debroise
11:40 Session 5: Music and the Cosmos
11:40 - 13:00
Contributions

11:40 The Titius-Bode Law in Music - How Two Composers ”Discovered” Pluto and Ceres - Angelo Adamo

12:00 Communion: Singing with Photons, Glass Plates, and the Will of Light - Adam Jovanovic Kaasa

12:20 DE-SIDERA ET DIS-ASTRA - Aratus’ Phenomena and the role of metrics in music and poetry for communicating science - Ettore Perozzi

12:40 Songs for the Stars: Music, ExoLife Finder, and Cosmic Contact - Jeffrey Kuhn Thomas Emilio Villa
13:00 Lunch
Lunch
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 Session 6: Art, Astronomy and Communication I
14:00 - 16:10
Contributions

14:00 Atlas Unchained - E.C Krupp

14:20 A portrait of Progetto Costellazioni, a land art and interactive contemporary art project about Cosmos - Luca Serasini

14:40 The sustained gaze - interdisciplinary perspectives, visual arts practice and the curation of "Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space" - Ione Parkin

15:00 Lucigrafie* painting with Light - Claudia Mendini - Claudia Mendini

15:20 Light from the Beginning: Cosmology and Creation in a Cathedral Rose Window - Carrie Fitzgerald
16:10 Session 6: Art, Astronomy and Communication II
16:10 - 17:10
Contributions

16:10 Galaxy in Hand - Augustus Wendell Qifeng Cheng

16:30 Drawing the Pantheon across time: The Project Oculus - Kristin Jones

16:50 The Modern Star Makers: bridging technological frontiers and cultural imaginaries. Laser Guide Stars and the Art-Science convergence of "Ti guarderò bruciare" - Federica Di Carlo Marco Faccini
17:10 Visit to Villa Mondragone

17:10 - 18:40
Wednesday, 7 October 2026

09:10 Opening in Monte Porzio Observatory - Welcome from INAF-OAR Director

09:10 - 09:20
09:20 Session 7: Cosmic Perspectives I - Keynote
09:20 - 10:00
Contributions

09:20 All at One Point... or Not? Literary Imagination and Modern Cosmology - Paolo De Bernardis
10:00 Session 7: Cosmic Perspectives I
10:00 - 11:30
Contributions

10:00 Mons. George Lemaitre: The father of the Big-Bang theory - Gabriele Gionti

10:20 Cosmic Chemistry from the Big Bang to You - Chris Impey

10:40 Evidence for the Big Bang - Georges Meylan
11:30 Session 7: Cosmic Perspectives II - Keynote
11:30 - 12:10
Contributions

11:30 The Path to the Constant - George Djorgovski
12:10 Session 7: Cosmic Perspectives II
12:10 - 12:50
Contributions

12:10 Realism and Instrumentalism in Historical Perspective - Kenneth Seeskin

12:30 Pic du Midi: UNESCO World Heritage Candidate and Outpost to the Universe - Eric Delgado
12:50 Poster Session: R. Macke - S. Bardelli
R. Macke - S. Bardelli
12:50 - 13:00

13:00 Lunch
Lunch
13:00 - 14:00

14:00 Guided Tour INAF-Oss. Astr. Monte Porzio

14:00 - 15:30

15:30 Visit to Specola Vaticana in Castel Gandolfo

15:30 - 18:30

21:00 Roberto Trotta "L'importanza di saper guardare all'insù" ( for generic public)

21:00 - 23:30
Thursday, 8 October 2026
09:10 Session 8: Celestial Art (Middle Ages to Baroque) Keynote
09:10 - 09:50
Contributions

09:10 Agostino Chigi's Benevolent Stars - Costanza Barbieri
09:50 Session 8: Celestial Art (Middle Ages to Baroque)
09:50 - 11:40
Contributions

09:50 Stars and constellations in the ’Labours of the Months’ of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice (mid-13th century). - Gloria Vallese

10:10 Rubens, Galileo, and the Cosmological Baroque: The Madonna della Vallicella - David Bardeen

10:30 Artemisia & Galileo - Paolo Molaro

10:50 Caravaggio and Galileo: The Sons of Kronos - Cameron Gainer
11:40 Session 9: Heavens in Modern & Contemporary Art
11:40 - 14:00
Contributions

11:40 Depictions of a lunar eclipse and the dawn of astrophysics in van Gogh's paintings - Edvige Corbelli

12:00 Seeing the Invisible: Guido Horn d’Arturo, Giorgio Morandi and the Construction of Vision between Astronomy and Painting. - Francesco Poppi

12:20 Conjuring Cosmic Connections (Anish Kapoor) - Deborah Jenner

12:40 The Dynamic Metaphor of Time Depicted in the Hall of King Roger in the Norman Palace and in the Hall of Mirrors at Villa Igiea in Palermo - Maria Luisa Tuscano
14:00 Session 10: Narratives of the Sky - Keynote
14:00 - 14:40
Contributions

14:00 Ulysses and Astronomy - Piero Botani
14:40 Session 10: Narratives of the Sky
14:40 - 16:20
Contributions

14:40 When All Roads Led to Planet Mars: Utopian writing at the fin-de-siècle - Alessandra Calanchi

15:00 Imagining the Cosmos from the Newsstand: Urania and the Popular Construction of Astronomical Imagination in Postwar Italy - Guglielmino Salvo

15:20 The Psyche of Space and the Intuition of Otherness: Starlight, Star Maps and the Middle Passage in the Afro-Atlantic Nocturne - Skye Weston

15:40 The Varied Roles of Lunar Eclipses in Literature - Thomas Hockey
16:20 Session 11: Literary Focus Panel 1 - U. Eco Panel
16:20 - 17:40
Contributions

16:20 "Eco Celeste" panel - "From the Apocalypse of Beatus to The Name of the Rose, 1973–1980: memories of a student from the Bologna years" - Gloria Vallese

16:30 "Eco Celeste" panel - Baroque Skies, Postmodern Narratives: Astronomy and Storytelling in Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before - Giangiacomo Gandolfi

16:50 "Eco Celeste" panel - "Back to the cosmic womb: Umberto Eco visits the planetarium" - Stefano Giovanardi

17:10 "Eco Celeste" panel - "The System of the Seven Planets. A Brief Poetic Cosmogony" - Riccardo Fedriga (Alma Università Bologna - Fondazione Umberto Eco)

17:25 "Eco Celeste" panel -TBD - Valentina Vigneri (Museo Galileo)
17:40 Session 12: Literary Focus Panel 2 - "Seeing from Outside" Fi-Sci Panel + Mini double workshop
17:40 - 18:50
Contributions

17:40 Literary Focus Panel 2 - Fi-Sci Panel + Mini workshop - Warp: Storyfabric and Spacetime Curvature - Rhona Trauvitch

18:00 Panel 2 - Fi-Sci Panel + Mini workshop “The Power of Gravity, and the Gravity of Power” - Tigran Abrahamyan

18:20 Literary Focus Panel 2 - Fi-Sci Panel + Mini workshop - FI-SCI LAB "Craft a Fi-Sci Analogy" - Trauvitch Abrahamyan
20:00 Conference dinner

20:00 - 23:00
Friday, 9 October 2026

09:00 Visit to Pantheon and Villa Medici

09:00 - 13:00

13:00 Lunch Break

13:00 - 14:10
14:10 Session 13: Heavenly Manuscripts
14:10 - 16:40
Contributions

14:10 Presentation of Vatican Library - S.E. Mons. Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi

14:20 The Digital Services Skyline of the Vatican Apostolic Library - Paola Manoni

14:40 Winds of the Heavens - Giuliano Giuffrida

15:00 Stargazing the End Times: Cosmic Visions and Doomsday Beliefs in Early Medieval England - Marilina Cesario

15:20 Stars of Heaven: Celestial Bodies in Old English Religious Poetry - Ciarán Walsh (Queen's University Belfast)

15:40 Sensing the Sky: Astronomy, Medicine, and the Body in Early Medieval England - Irene Tenchini

16:00 Planetary Conjunctions and Prophetic Time in Dante’s Commedia - Alberto Pimpinelli
16:40 Session 14: Calendars and New Stars
16:40 - 18:00
Contributions

16:40 Computus Chirometralis:The Eternal Struggle Between Sun and Moon in the Palm of the Hand — Substituting Chiromancy with Modular Arithmetic - Vania Proverbio Delio

17:00 Rereading the Qur’ān through the Observational Sky: Celestial Order and Experiential Knowledge in Late Antique Arabia - Erica Ferg

17:20 The Enigma of Hipparchus’s ”Stella Nova”: History, Reception, and New Perspectives of Identification - Alberto Cappi

17:40 Johannes van Heeck’s "De Nova Stella" in context - Matteo Cosci
Saturday, 10 October 2026

09:30 Special Lectures on the Exhibition: Antikythera Mechanism Exhibition
Antikythera Mechanism Exhibition
09:30 - 10:30

10:30 Visit Copernican Museum and Solar Tower in INAF Headquartes ( Monte Mario)

10:30 - 12:30

12:30 INSAP XIV Closing Remarks & Farewell

12:30 - 13:00

13:00 Lunch Break

13:00 - 14:00

14:00 Free Afternoon

14:00 - 18:00

18:00 Planetarium show "Return to the stars" (reservation and ticket required)

18:00 - 19:00
Sunday, 11 October 2026

08:30 Excursion to Villa Giustiniani in Bassano Romano and Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola

08:30 - 18:00