Speaker Night

Mar 20: SPEAKER NIGHT: RANDY ATTWOOD

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Due to the COVID-19 crisis and the suspension of in-person classes at UTM, we have cancelled this meeting.

Topic: “Apollo 13 – The Flight That Failed”

By Randy Attwood

Fifty years ago, the third mission was launched to land two people on the Moon. On the third day of the flight, a problem occurred which cancelled the plans for the lunar landing and instead, started a race to get the astronauts home alive. In this talk, the speaker will detail all the things which had to go right to save the Apollo 13 crew.

About Randy:

J. Randy Attwood is a resident of Mississauga and has been looking up at the night sky for nearly 50 years. He joined the The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 1970. He was President of the Toronto Centre 1982 – 1986, Society National President 1998 – 2000, the founder, a Past-President and Honorary President and currently President of the Mississauga Centre. He was the Society’s Executive Director and Publisher of SkyNews magazine from 2014 – 2019.

For more information, please see the Earthshine notice

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

Park in parking deck P4 or P8, across from the Recreation and Wellness (Fitness) Centre south of the Davis Building. The parking rate is $2 per hour or $6 maximum. Consider paying the maximum, which will allow you to park all night. If not, you should return to your vehicle before your time expires to avoid being ticketed.

Enter the Davis Building through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

New Members Welcome, Potpourri Night

MAR 6: POTPOURRI NIGHT & New members welcome

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Potpourri meetings feature a series of short presentations on various astronomy and space topics given by members of the Mississauga Centre. The meeting is open to the public and is free. The meeting will be held Friday Mar 6 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

Special raffle prize: 82 degree 8.8mm eyepiece – courtesy of Explore Scientific!

In the unlikely event of a cancellation, we will post a notice here by 4 PM Friday.

New Members Welcome at 7:15

Hosts: Betty Robinson and Randy Attwood

New members Mississauga Centre members are invited to a “New Members Welcome” prior to the Potpourri Night. Members of Council will welcome you to the Centre, give you more details on the Club and what we do, explain the benefits of joining the RASC and the Mississauga Centre, and invite you to share your interests with us. While this event is intended for new members, any member can attend.

Potpourri Meeting at 8:00

Host: Randy Attwood

Presentations

Dr Phil Groff, Executive Director RASC  
Dr. Groff will provide an update on Society activities and be available to answer questions.   

** Break **

Fred Benedikt: A Travelogue
Visits to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona and the Adler Planetarium in Chicago

Scott Roberts, president at Explore Scientific:
Scott will talk about Explore Scientific giving some history of the company, the importance of outreach. He is also going to be offering up an 82 degree 8.8mm eyepiece as a raffle prize!

Steve Mallia: Backspace (astrophotography discussion)
Backspace  – what it is and how to determine what the requirement is for imaging and your camera.

Jo Vandendool: “Ray Tracing Apollo 11”
See what the views from the lunar surface would have looked like on Apollo 11 if Buzz Adrin wasn’t such a narcissist.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or in the parkade across from the fitness centre south of the Davis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor). Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

After the meeting, join us at at a local watering hole (location announced during the meeting) for more fun!

Annual General Meeting, Speaker Night

feb 21: agm & SPEAKER NIGHT: Dr. Elaina Hyde

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In the unlikely event of a cancellation, we will post a notice here by 4 PM Friday.

This is our Annual General Meeting, so we’ll have CAKE, COFFEE, DECAF AND TEA!

Topic: “Telescopes and Data Science, a Match Made in the Heavens”

This talk will cover York University’s Public Outreach program, an introduction to our one metre telescope, and a bit about why I am so interested in using this telescope for outreach as well as research in data science and astrophysics. We will investigate our Milky Way Galaxy and have a short discussion of how data science can be used to detect faint and sparse objects such as the dwarf satellites and streams that helped form the galaxy we live in. When trying to make detections of these mysterious stars, the advent of greater cloud computing capability means the sky really is no longer the limit (for programming or Astronomy)!

About Elaina:

Dr. Elaina Hyde is a new assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at York University in Toronto. Her research ‘in and above the cloud’ combines astrophysics, data science, cloud computing, planetary sciences, optical engineering, telescope operations and telescope observations. Her current favorite programming languages are Python, C, R and SQL.
Elaina’s research focus is galactic archaeology and data science for astrophysics. While gathering data, she has worked with instrumentation and telescopes across the world. Her experience with optical telescopes provides technical leadership for the York University Allan I. Carswell Astronomical Observatory.
A key motivation for Elaina is the promotion of astronomy education and research through public telescope activities and exploration. As a lecturer, trainer, and consultant she is constantly innovating teaching methodologies for interdisciplinary audiences, across the sciences as well as for businesses, students at York and the public. 

More on Elaina Hyde

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

Park in parking deck P4 or P8, across from the Recreation and Wellness (Fitness) Centre south of the Davis Building. The parking rate is $2 per hour or $6 maximum. Consider paying the maximum, which will allow you to park all night. If not, you should return to your vehicle before your time expires to avoid being ticketed.

Enter the Davis Building through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

Potpourri Night

feb 7: POTPOURRI NIGHT

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Potpourri meetings feature a series of short presentations on various astronomy and space topics given by members of the Mississauga Centre. The meeting is open to the public and is free. The meeting will be held Friday Feb 7 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

(Go / No Go will appear here after 4PM Fri)

Host: Randy Attwood

Presentations

Vineet Honkan: “A History of the ISRO (India Space Research Organization)”

** Break **

Ron Macnaughton: “A New Way to Present  Astronomy”

Randy Attwood: “The new Space Place Canada Initiative to Build a Large Planetarium in Toronto”

Randy Attwood: “A Review of Committees and Call for More Volunteers”

Plus one more – TBA

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or in the parkade across from the fitness centre south of the Davis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor). Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

After the meeting, join us at at a local watering hole (location announced during the meeting) for more fun!

Speaker Night

Jan 24: SPEAKER NIGHT: Dan Falk

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In the unlikely event of a cancellation, we will post a notice here by 4 PM Friday.

Topic: “Time Travel in Fact and Fiction”

By Dan Falk

Time travel has been a staple of science fiction for more than a century, from H.G. Wells’ novel The Time Machine to the Back to the Future trilogy to innumerable episodes of Star Trek.  But, could time travel actually happen in the real world?  Trying to answer that question involves both philosophy and physics, as we ponder everything from the “grandfather paradox” to the nature of time itself.  In this illustrated talk, award-winning science journalist Dan Falk explores the idea of time travel in both fact and fiction.

About Dan:

Dan Falk is an award-winning science journalist based in Toronto. His writing credits include Smithsonian, Scientific American, New Scientist, The Walrus, Quanta, Slate, NBCnews.com, and many other publications. He’s written three popular science books, most recently The Science of Shakespeare. Dan has appeared regularly on several CBC Radio programs and has contributed more than a dozen documentaries to CBC’s Ideas

He also co-hosts BookLab, a podcast that reviews popular science books In 2011 he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, and last winter he was the Science Communicator in Residence at York University.  Last fall, Dan was awarded the Fleming Medal for Excellence in Science Communication from the Royal Canadian Institute for Science.

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

Park in parking deck P4 or P8, across from the Recreation and Wellness (Fitness) Centre south of the Davis Building. The parking rate is $2 per hour or $6 maximum. Consider paying the maximum, which will allow you to park all night. If not, you should return to your vehicle before your time expires to avoid being ticketed.

Enter the Davis Building through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

New Members Welcome, Potpourri Night

Jan 10: POTPOURRI NIGHT

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Potpourri meetings feature a series of short presentations on various astronomy and space topics given by members of the Mississauga Centre. The meeting is open to the public and is free. The meeting will be held Friday Jan 10 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

(Go / No Go will appear here after 4PM Fri)

Host: Randy Attwood

Presentations

Randy Attwood: “Venus and the Pleiades”

Dennis Gasparotto: “Remote imaging with ASIAIR”

Steve Mallia: “Mississauga Centre Bylaws”

Randy Attwood: “Call for Volunteers”

** Break **

Randy Attwood: “The Sky in 2020 / an Update on Betelgeuse”

Plans for 2020
Leslie Strike: “About the Proposed 2020 Slate”
Allan Connery: “Telescope Loan Program”
Jo VandenDool: “Member Observing”
Randy Attwood: “Public Outreach”

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or in the parkade across from the fitness centre south of the Davis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor). Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

After the meeting, join us at at a local watering hole (location announced during the meeting) for more fun!

New Members Welcome, Potpourri Night

dec 13: POTPOURRI NIGHT

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Potpourri meetings feature a series of short presentations on various astronomy and space topics given by members of the Mississauga Centre. The meeting is open to the public and is free. The meeting will be held Friday Dec 13 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

(Go / No Go will appear here after 4PM Fri)

Host: Jo VandenDool

Presentations

Fred Benedikt: “Measuring our Solar System – Why use Planetary Transits?”
This talk will highlight the knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans to the late Renaissance European astronomers, who all tried to answer the question  – How far away are The Sun and The Moon?   The Venus Transits of 1761 and 1769 provided a key role to our understanding of our solar system … and beyond.

Steve Mallia: “Mississauga Centre Bylaws Update”

** Break **

Randy Attwood: “Apollo 12 – a Look Back”
A look back at the second manned lunar landing which took place just over 50 years ago in November 1969. The mission was successful but had its share of problems, which included one serious enough to potentially stop the mission after only 36.5 seconds!

Jo VandenDool: “The Sky This Month”
Jo will provide us with an overview of what to look for in the night skies in the next month or so.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or in the parkade across from the fitness centre south of the Davis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor). Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

After the meeting, join us at at a local watering hole (location announced during the meeting) for more fun!

Speaker Night

NOV 22: SPEAKER NIGHT: Scott Sutherland

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In the unlikely event of a cancellation, we will post a notice here by 4 PM Friday.

Topic: “InSight: What An Inside Look at Mars Can Tell Us”

Scott with a model of the InSight lander.

NASA’s latest Mars mission touched down roughly a year ago. Tasked with detecting even the slightest tremor in the planet’s crust, tracking its weather 24.5 hours a day, and sensing its internal temperature, InSight is allowing us to explore Mars like never before.

Let’s take a look at what InSight has shown us so far, and what it could reveal to us about our second favourite terrestrial planet.

Scott Sutherland is a Meteorologist & Science Writer at The Weather Network. After focusing the first decade of his career on deciphering the machinations of Earth’s weather as a meteorologist, he has since expanded that focus to encompass weather, climate, space, astronomy, and science as The Weather Network’s science writer.
Twitter: @ScottWx_TWN

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

Park in parking deck P4 or P8, across from the Recreation and Wellness (Fitness) Centre south of the Davis Building. The parking rate is $2 per hour or $6 maximum. Consider paying the maximum, which will allow you to park all night. If not, you should return to your vehicle before your time expires to avoid being ticketed.

Enter the Davis Building through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

New Members Welcome, Potpourri Night

Nov 8: POTPOURRI NIGHT

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Potpourri meetings feature a series of short presentations on various astronomy and space topics given by members of the Mississauga Centre. The meeting is open to the public and is free. The meeting will be held Friday Nov 8 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building.

(Go / No Go will appear here after 4PM Fri)

Host: Steve Mallia

Presentations

“SNOLAB Part 2”
On September 13th, 16 lucky Mississauga Centre members had the privilege of going deep underground on a tour of SNOLAB. In part 1, we told you about SNOLAB’s Mission and Purpose: An overview of the origins of SNOLAB from its inception as the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), designed to answer the missing solar neutrino problem to its current focus on neutrino and dark matter physics. In part 2, we will cover some of the science in more detail. 

Allan Connery  – Brief Recap of Part

Chris Malicki – How we got the tour

Krishna Vedala – Supernova Neutrinos (SNOLAB’s discoveries already resulted in a NOBEL prize. What else is there to learn about neutrinos?) 

Krishna Vedala – Dark Matter (nobody knows what it is but Krishna will let us know what he thinks that it might be)

Ron Macnaughton – PICO (experiment to look for WIMPS, and bubbles in beer)

Kirby Alguire – Biological Experiments

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or in the parkade across from the fitness centre south of the Davis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs until you reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator, follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the main floor). Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

After the meeting, join us at at a local watering hole (location announced during the meeting) for more fun!