largest telescope in the world vatican

It is here that the modern observatory, entrusted to the Jesuits, was refounded in the 1930s with the construction of two new telescopes, the installation of an astrophysical laboratory for spectro-chemical analysis, and the expansion of several important research programs on variable stars. The Vatican and its observatory arenot among the research institutions listed on the LBT Observatory website as operating or owning the LBT. The Vatican Observatory is located in Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome, Italy. Out of respect for his work, however, Father Secchi was permitted to continue using the Observatory. Eventually it was moved to Castel Gandolfo, but by 1960 the same problems were beginning to happen there too! Some cooling systems vent off gas, but this one didnt. One of the grand scientific projects of the 21st Century begins its construction phase on Monday. You can also sign up for our free print newsletter (US only). In 1993 the Observatory, in collaboration with Steward Observatory, completed the construction of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope ( VATT ) on Mt. Others however claim it dates back to the reform of the calendar in 1582. Before its success as one of the world's largest optical telescopes, Hobby Eberly's design was unique. Father Angelo Secchi SJ relocated the College Observatory to the top of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio (Church of St. Ignatius in Rome). In 1891 Pope Leo XIII established another Vatican Observatory within the walls of the Vatican city. This illustration shows what the TMT design may look like when complete. Therefore, they called this the Closed Circuit Cooling Photometer (CCCP). The firestorm that ensued probably was responsible for renaming the instrument LUCI in 2012, six years before LUCI was completed and went into service (such a complex instrument can require years of planning and development). Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (2020). The Vatican owns a telescope which is located on Mount Graham, in south-eastern Arizona where sky conditions are among the best in the world. It certainly sounds shocking, so its no wonder why people ask us about this. European Southern Observatory (ESO) (2022). The exterior dome was finished in August 2016. After the war, Pope Pius XII approved the reconstruction of the Convent. .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}Segmented Mirror (Mosaic) Glass Reflector So, if you know someone repeating this false rumor, please refer them to this article for correction. Consolmagno says, "It was one of about 18 identical telescopes that were set up around the world to photograph the sky, and every national observatory was given its own piece of sky to photograph." Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) An example is a very complex, useful instrument designed for the LBT. e.mail: staff@specola.va. With the VATT we are pursuing long-term research programs which, although they were the hallmark of research at Castel Gandolfo, we have never been able to carry out before in Tucson. In Australia, which is planned to be home to the largest of these sites initially, there will be 512 telescope stations, while 200 will be situated in South Africa. Filippo Luigi Gilii (17561821). Public tours are permitted, as long as reservation is made in advance during the May October period. This is the first optical-infrared telescope of the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO), a project which in the coming years will see the construction of some of the world's most sophisticated and largest telescopes. The Observatory staff have offices at Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona(picture shows S.O. gather as much light) as the smaller silvered glass mirror telescopes that succeeded it because of the poor performance of its speculum metal mirror. The 1.8 meter Alice P. Lennon Telescope and its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), is a Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared which achieved 'first light', the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993. The Church is expanding in China and co-operation with China is an important feature of Pope Francis tenure. Collectively known as an astronomical interferometer, each of these antennas works together to create one image. What Can You Avoid When You Plan For a Trip to the Vatican? The building again was subject to the ravages of warfare in 1944. In the 18th century, the Papacy actively supported astronomy, establishing the Observatory of the Roman College in 1774. Answer: The Vatican did not name a telescope "Lucifer.". This institution became a leading establishment within the study of astronomy, however as Rome modernised the smog and light pollution generated from the growing city made it difficult. With the installation of a Schmidt wide-angle telescope in 1957 research was extended to other topics such as new techniques for the classification of stars according to their spectra. "..the first modern, achromatic, refracting telescope. From time to time here at Answers in Genesis we get inquiries about a telescope called LUCIFER that the Vatican supposedly owns. "Because people can see science in action, science doesn't have all the answers," he says. Since warm objects emit infrared radiation, it is important to cool infrared detectors, or else the signal you are trying to measure will be swamped with noise. The system I used cooled the detector to a very low temperature with a special refrigerator unit using liquid helium. VATT is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory and is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona . "Introducing the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (opens in new tab)". We apologize for the inconvenience. "ALMA, In search of our cosmic origins (opens in new tab)". Tobias Herrmann, a spokesperson for the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, which is part of the LBT Observatory Collaboration, told Check Your Fact in an email that the claim was a rather old rumor that had previously been debunked. "But the astronomy is the place where I interact with the Creator of the universe, where God sets up the puzzles and we have a lot of fun solving them together," the director says. The Vatican Observatory Research Group operates a telescope in Arizona called the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope. Several religious orders contributed personnel and directors to the Observatory. Since 2002, the Mount Graham facility has also housed the Large Binocular Telescope, one of the largest optical telescopes in the world, which is owned and operated by several institutions in the . The telescope will be encased in a huge, 262-foot (80-meter) tall rotating dome, which will weigh approximately 6,000 tonnes. When this array is used in different combinations, the range of visibility varies. "ALMA Finds Most-Distant Oxygen in the Universe (opens in new tab)". Diameter: 512 x 49.2 feet (512 x 15 meters). Top scientists teach at the Observatory's summer school. The government of the Vatican City State supports the Vatican Observatory staff and regular research costs, but the cost to build and maintain the VATT itself has come from private donors: the major donors supporting the construction of the VATT were Fred and Alice P. Lennon and Thomas J. Bannan. And that when they find these aliens, they will use them to take over the world in favour of Vatican rule. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) (2022). In fact, three early observatories were founded by the Papacy: the Observatory of the Roman College (1774-1878) (illustrated), the Observatory of the Capitol (1827-1870), and the Specula Vaticana (1789-1821) in the Tower of the Winds within the Vatican. The telescope's official name is the Alice P. Lennon Telescope The design of the device allows for extremely sharp levels of foc What Is the Vatican Telescope Looking For? But it wasn't until 1582 that the Vatican Observatory was born with the reform of the Gregorian calendar (named for Pope Gregory XIII) that, based on observation of the stars, established fixed dates for religious festivities. It cooperates with NASA on several space missions and it operates a modern telescope in partnership with the University of Arizona. The ground floor by Albanos Piazza Pia is our public area and workspace: our offices, libraries, and labs. Some of the incredible imagery uncovered by this combination of apparatus include the birth of stars, which can produce a visible glow and also heat up surrounding gas that can be detected using infrared. But he ordered the estate become a museum open to the public.). At its inception, the system was called Large Binocular Telescope Near-infrared Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research (LUCIFER). on the right and its Mirror Laboratory under the football stadium at the end of the road). Naval Observatory Flagstaff 1.3-m Reflector", "Na Slovensku spustili nejvt dalekohled, bude hledat blzkozemn planetky | Exoplanety.cz", "Original mirror for William Herschel's 40 foot telescope, 1785", "Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory Home", http://www.aip.de/image_archive/images/122cm.jpg, "Largest optical telescopes of the world", "William Lassell (17991880) and the discovery of Triton, 1846", "Hamburger Sternwarte Buildings & Telescopes: Oskar-Lhning Telescope", "Herbert J. Kramer GeoEye-1 (OrbView-5)", Dr. Erhard Hnssgen's 42 inch (107 cm) Dobsonian Telescope, "Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station Celebrates First Half Century - SpaceRef Your Space Reference", "National Park Service: Astronomy and Astrophysics (Yerkes Observatory)", "University of Bern Astronomisches Institut The ZIMLAT Telescope", "Le tlescope de 1 mtre - Observatoire de Paris - PSL Centre de recherche en astronomie et astrophysique", "Current Status of the Lulin Observatory", "Astronomick observatrium na Kolonickom sedle", "Kolonick sedlo, vesmr a Vihorlatsk hvzdrna | Treking.cz", http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/60/24/72/PDF/Zhao.pdf, "Home | Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias IAC", "Hamburger Sternwarte Buildings & Telescopes: 1m Reflector", http://pmo-sun.uoregon.edu/~pmo/visitor_info.html, "AKARI (ASTRO-F) Infrared Astronomy Satellite", "Kelly Beatty Former 'tenth planet' may be smaller than Pluto (November 2010) SkyandTelescope.com/newscientist.com", "TRAPPIST Telescope to Scout the Sky and Uncover Exoplanets and Comets (9 June 2010) ScienceDaily", "NEW DOMAIN: International Team Installs First of Three Telescopes in Antarctica | Texas A&M University, College of Science", "The University of Rochester Telescope Team - A 16" Ritchey Chretien Reflecting Telescope", "eoportal LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) LROC", "Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) NASA/NSSDC", "Sierks, et al. 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Secondary diameter. Vatican astronomers used some of the facilities of Steward Observatory, but in 1993 the 1.8-meter Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) opened on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona. In 2016, it obtained an. Maybe you will be lucky enough to see the Pope! A third facility, the Observatory of the Capitol, was operated from 1827 to 1870. Sylvia Poggioli/NPR The same year, Steward Observatory's Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) also opened on Mount Graham. Previously, Ailsa has written for Cardiff Times magazine, Psychology Now and numerous science bookazines. For the Finnish government agency, see, The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), Location of Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, Catholic Church and science#Vatican Observatory, Eastern Arizona College's Discovery Park Campus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vatican_Advanced_Technology_Telescope&oldid=1136853975, This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 14:03. 10. The 1.8 meter Alice P. Lennon Telescope and its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), is a Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared which achieved 'first light', the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993. Gilii died, the Specola was closed down because it was inconvenient for students in the city because the dome of St. Peter's obstructed its view. The Gregorian Tower was completed in 1580 for his purpose, designed by Bolognese architect Ottaviano Nonni. The Vatican Observatory does not own each piece of equipment, nor can it give official names or nicknames to things it does not own. [3] The new Vatican Observatory remained there for the next forty years. They usually come up with catchy, and often humorous, names for these instruments. The Clarisse sisters continue their prayer and work in the northwestern end of the building. The Observatory space is divided into three areas. (Pope Francis, known for his frugality and habit of not taking vacations, decided not to use the papal summer villa, which he considers too luxurious. J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility (Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope or VATT) fed light to the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI) and took spectra of dwarf stars with unprecedented precision. By 1961, the same problems with light pollution made observing difficult at Castel Gandolfo. Please refresh the page and try again. In early 2008, the Vatican announced that the Observatory would be relocated to a former convent a mile away from the castle as part of a general reconstruction of the Papal residence. The design of SALT appears almost identical to Hobby Eberly because it was inspired by the success of its predecessor. In 2007, work began to completely restructure their end of the building to match the needs of the astronomers of the Specola Vaticana. "This is the end that has the papal farm, so you can see the cows the papal milk comes from," Consolmagno says as he points out the working farm that provides the pope at the Vatican with vegetable and dairy products. Among SALT's top discoveries is the first white dwarf pulsar. The LBT is owned and operated by a consortium of institutions in the United States and from around the world.1 Collectively, the three facilities atop Mount Graham, VATT, SMT, and LBT, comprise the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO). The old quarters in the castle were cramped and very poorly laid out for the Observatory's use. Italian astronomer Father Francesco Denza led the Vatican's contribution to the project until his death in 1894. It is really no surprise that the Vatican Church holds an avid interest in the planets and the stars. and the Vatican's Astonishing Plan for the Arrival of an Alien Savior. A little more than a decade later, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) opened on Mount Graham. It's the Vatican Observatory, located on the grounds of the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, a medieval town in Alban Hills 15 miles southeast of Rome. Chosen for their extremely remote lands, the Karoo region of South Africa and Murchison Shire of Western Australia are due to host the massive radio telescope arrays. Thus it was that Pope Pius XI provided a new location for the Observatory at the Papal Summer Residence at Castel Gandolfoin the Alban Hills some 25 kilometers southeast of Rome. It's called Carte du Ciel map of the sky and it stands under a curved ceiling that slides open. When Msgr. A passionate Star Wars fan, he tells this reporter proudly, "even Obi-Wan Kenobi came to visit" the Observatory, pointing to the signature of actor Alec Guinness, who played the role in the original movie trilogy, in a visitor's book from 1958. . The Large Binocular Telescope ( LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on 10,700-foot (3,300 m) Mount Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, United States. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas, has the world's largest telescope mirror. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This was during the Cold War, and many people knew that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in Russian and in the Cyrillic alphabet was CCCP. The signal came from ionized oxygen in the galaxy MACS1149-JD1. Gemini (S) This list of the largest optical reflecting telescopes with objective diameters of 3.0 metres (120 in) or . That's right, the Vatican has an observatory in Arizona . The Gran Telescopio Canarias is by far the largest telescope on earth and measures 34 feet (or 409 inches) across! Terms of Service apply. Based in the U.K., she graduated from the University of Stirling with a BA (Hons) journalism degree. Type: Optical-infrared Diameter: 128 feet (39.3 meters) Designed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Extremely Large Telescope (which is due to be completed in 2027) also holds. Many people are surprised to learn that the Vatican even has an observatory. Your email address will not be published. Astronomical text books in Latin are displayed at the Vatican Observatory. Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. One of the most popular is that the Vatican owns a telescope called Lucifer. Our image of the day, Your monthly guide to stargazing & space science, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with code 'LOVE5', Issues delivered straight to your door or device. Update 2023, All About Vatican City Telescope & Castel Gandolfo Observatory, The Vatican Telescope formally known as the, The telescopes official name is the Alice P. Lennon Telescope, The design of the device allows for extremely sharp levels of foc. In addition to the LBT, the Mount Graham International Observatory hosts other telescopes, including the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT). Promoting the James Webb Space Telescope can help everyone to understand our universal and evolving ecosystems and the original of life itself in a scientific context. The director, Brother Guy Consolmagno, is giving this reporter a guided tour of the grounds. With twin 8.4-meter mirrors, the LBT is one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. And scientists and space industry leaders have come for a United Nations-sponsored conference on the ethics and peaceful uses of outer space. Seeing of better than one arc-second even without adaptive optics can be achieved on a regular basis. Among the results from this telescope have been the discovery of MACHOs in the Andromeda Galaxy; the validation of the Stromvil photometric filter system; evidence for how the shape and dimensions of galaxies have changed over the age of the universe; discovery of the first binary 'Vesta chip' asteroid; and the characterization and classification by visible colors of some 100 trans-Neptunian objects, most of them fainter than magnitude 21. Left: A visitors' book signed by actor Alec Guinness in 1958. O'Connell produced the first color photographs of a green flash at sunset in 1960. D.K.J. VORG research activities in Arizona continued unaffected. ALMA (2018). The most noteworthy discovery captured by Hobby Eberly was light that originated from a quasar so far away that the Earth was only an eighth of its current age when this light began traveling towards Earth. These included Barnabites, Oratorians, Augustinians, andJesuits. One element that helped make it stand out from existing telescopes was that its mirror is always tilted 55 degrees up from the horizon. The history of the Vatican Observatory goes back two and a half centuries. Gregorian telescope optical telescope. Espoused by fringe group Christians, it is claimed that Lucifer the telescope is looking for aliens. A quasar is an incredibly bright object that gains its energy from a supermassive black hole. Although the individual size of each of these telescopes isn't as grand as some of the previous entries, the anticipated scale of this construction is much greater. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, There is a group dedicated to planetary science, focussing on small objects. 00120 Stato Citt del Vaticano The Vatican owns one telescope - the VAAT, located in Arizona. You have to study it and you have to come to appreciate it.". You thought the Vatican was all about old statues and art right? Summer Schoolsin Astronomy and Astrophysics are now a biannual event in the Vatican Observatory's programs. Following the invasion of Anzio by the Allies and their slow march up the coast to Rome, the building was hit twice, on February 1 and February 10, 1944. Consolmagno asked how the study of the stars interacts with his faith says astronomy doesn't provide answers to theological questions, and scripture doesn't explain science. Copyright 1999 2019 GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC. At intervals of about every two years we host either at Castel Gandolfo or at Tucson a scientific meeting with some twenty invited scholars on one of the current studies of the Observatory. Staffed by Jesuit Priest astronomers, one of the main tasks of the telescope is to look for evidence that shows that Catholicism and Science are not necessarily in conflict with each other. For most of its history, the Catholic Church rejected scientific findings that conflicted with its doctrine. It is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory . Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images Ailsa is a staff writer for How It Works magazine, where she writes science, technology, space, history and environment features. CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy At a time of growing diffidence toward some new scientific discoveries, the one and only Vatican institution that does scientific research recently launched a campaign to promote dialogue between faith and science. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Scientists estimate that the result of this project will be telescope arrays that are 100 times more sensitive than today's top sites and a sky surveying time that is around one million times faster. The current sabre-rattling globally is a bad sign and science should always be the enemy of militarism and more suffering. And the moniker, "LUCIFER" is really an eye-catcherespecially since it was built by the Vatican. May whoever searches here night and day the far reaches of space use it joyfully with the help of God. If you own the web site, please verify with your hosting company if your server is up and running and if they have our firewall IPs whitelisted. The telescope's mirror has 91 hexagonal segments to collect visible light. The Vatican Observatory operates the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, located in rural Arizona about 200 miles southeast of Phoenix. For instance, 35 years ago I used an infrared photometer on a telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. ; Sixty-Inch Reflector, Biggest in the World, Being Set Up. hide caption. The name was changed from European Extremely Large Telescope in 2017. One of the groundbreaking discoveries made by ALMA was the most distant oxygen in space. In recent days, multiple Facebook users have been attempting to link the Vatican to a telescope supposedly called Lucifer, a name used to refer to Satan in Christianity. Some of the largest telescopes are serving as Earth's eyes to explore supernovas, galaxies and other distant objects. The Webb telescope, the product of an international collaboration of scientists that cost over $10 billion, is the largest optical telescope in space, and astrophysicists are optimistic about the . Tours usually incorporate a little part of scenic Mount Graham in Arizona and a stop for lunch, before visiting the observatory. It was formerly known as Lucifer until the devil was expelled from heaven for orchestrating the first coup in recorded historical time. Is there any truth to this rumor? Your newsletter signup did not work out. By itself, the diameter of the primary optics can be a poor measure of a telescope's historical or scientific significance; for example, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse's 72-inch (1.8 m) reflecting telescope did not perform as well (i.e. During the Napoleonic wars (sometime between 1791 and 1810) this building was sacked by French troops. As to how the faith-versus-science culture wars can be resolved, Consolmagno says what's most important is that he wears a collar he is a devoutly religious person who also considers himself an "orthodox scientist." Graham, Arizona, probably the best astronomical site in the Continental United States. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The History of Vatican Telescope & the Vatican Observatory Foundation. In just a few months, says the director, visitors to the website have doubled. ", Freshly Made Plutonium From Outer Space Found On Ocean Floor, The Pope Is Toughening Church Laws On Sex Abuse, Fraud And The Ordination Of Women, New Effort To Clean Up Space Junk Reaches Orbit. You can check out a detailed list of the discoveries in this article here to get a flavour for the depth of the study of the VAAT. 1. [1], The Director of the Observatory is Brother Guy Consolmagno, an American Jesuit. Holding a dark rock a few inches long, he says it was formed 4.5 billion years ago providing clues on how the solar system was formed. He has been at the Observatory for three decades. Last large reflector with a speculum metal mirror, world's largest equatorially mounted telescope for several decades. We drive along a cypress-lined road, admiring majestic gardens and olive groves nestled near the remains of a palace of the Roman Emperor Domitian, before reaching a field with farmworkers and animals. And notice that they had to play games with the acronym to get it to spell out anything memorable. George Coyne.[2]. Is there a telescope in the Vatican? Details of these historical telescopes can be found on theInstrumentationpage of this web site. The sisters were Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri. Tours of the Observatory would be a hit for most senior high school and college stuents. The LUCIFER, which was renamed LUCI in 2012, is actually an instrument mounted on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), according to Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. The Vatican Observatory Research Group (VORG) operates the 1.8m Alice P. Lennon Telescope with its Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility, known together as the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), at the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO) in southeastern Arizona where sky conditions are among the best in the world and certainly the Continental United States. In 1981 the Vatican purchased a state-of-the-art telescope, which is one of the world's largest telescopes - the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope. European Southern Observatory (ESO) (2020). Thus from its two centers, located at Castel Gandolfo and at Tucson, the Observatory is continuing various current studies and international collaborations. Hagen, then director of the Vatican Observatory, took on the task of ordering and enriching the library of the Vatican Observatory. Another group installed a telescope it nicknamed Lucifer. Telescopes have grown in size since they first appeared around 1608. Tasked with observing galaxies far away, those working in the institute use computers to help them track the night sky. Then, with the unification of Italy in 1870, the convent was closed and the sisters moved into the Papal Palace in Castel Gandolfo, along with a community of Basilian nuns who had been exiled from the part of Poland then controlled by Russia. ALMA consists of 66 radio telescopes, with 54 measuring 39.4 feet (12 meters) in diameter and the remaining 12 just 23 feet (seven meters). "The Extremely Large Telescope: The World's Biggest Eye on the Sky (opens in new tab)". The observatory also publishes the Studi Galileiani, a series of current research on Galileo and the Copernican controversies. The observatory is positioned near the equator and at the top of the dormant Hawaiian volcano, Mauna Kea. Astronomical observatory on Kolonick mountain pass, Near-Earth Object Survey Telescope (NEOST), This page was last edited on 26 October 2022, at 11:48. What Is the Vatican Telescope Looking For? The survey made use of telescopes at two sites: In Arizona, the VO's Alice P. Lennon Telescope and Thomas.

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largest telescope in the world vatican

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