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.
Email: ssutherland@pelmorex.com    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!

Speaker Night

OCT 18: SPEAKER NIGHT: Chris Gainor

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

Topic: “History of the Hubble Space Telescope“

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched 29 years ago in 1990. After overcoming problems caused by a defective main mirror, Hubble has made discoveries that have revolutionized our view of the universe we live in. This talk will cover the history of HST based on a history book the speaker is writing for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Chris Gainor is a historian specializing in the history of space flight and aeronautics. He has five published books. He is also President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and editor of Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly.

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.

Public Outreach

OCT 8: Riverwood Public Star Party 8:00PM-9:30PM

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WE ARE GO! SKIES LOOK GREAT!

The Riverwood Conservancy, Earthshine Astronomy and Space Science Organization and the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada present the CITY STAR PARTY at the RIVERWOOD CONSERVATORY at 8:00 p.m. on TUESDAY Oct 8. This event is free.


Moon - phone adapter We’ll get views of Saturn and Jupiter this time around. We should get some good views of a young Moon, some colorful double stars, and some deep sky objects through our larger scopes. Get some great images of the Moon with your cellphone camera!

The ISS  (International Space Station) will make a pass just before 8PM, so be sure to come on time if you’d like to see that.

Here is  a link to Riverwood on Google maps:  Riverwood

We make the GO/NO-GO decision using the best weather information available at that time. Please check weather conditions yourself if you plan to attend, as weather conditions can change
quickly and force us to cancel an event or end it earlier than planned.