Canada's "Humble" Telescope celebrates its 10th Anniversary

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Earthshine President Randy Attwood with MOST in the clean room at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 2002

Earthshine President Randy Attwood with MOST in the clean room at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 2002

Ten years ago the MOST spacecraft was launched from a remote launch pad in northern Russia.  MOST was placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit (which meant the Sun was always visible)  Constant sunlight powered MOST as it observed single stars for weeks at a time.  It constantly measured the brightness of these stars - once every minute or so.  

This information told astronomers a lot about the interiors of these stars light years away.  MOST performed better than space telescopes 10 time more expensive.  It lasted years longer than expected.

Saturn and the Moon on show tomorrow night at Riverwood

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Earthshine and the RASC Mississauga Centre will be at the Riverwood Conservnacy tomorrow night for our monthly public star night.  Telescopes of various sizes and designs will be set up to view the Moon and the planet Saturn which will appear pretty close together in the sky low in the south.  Observing starts at 9:30.

 

Go to http://www.riverwoodconservancy.org/ for directions to the Riverwood Conservancy - we will be set up in front of Chappelle House. 

See you Tuesday evening at Riverwood.

Through our telescopes, Saturn will look very much like this, with rings clearly visible.

Through our telescopes, Saturn will look very much like this, with rings clearly visible.

Astronomer David Levy to speak at UTM this Friday

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Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) when they host a rare lecture by famous Canadian astronomer and comet-discover, David H. Levy.

David H. Levy, internationally renowned Canadian astronomer and science writer is famous for his co-discovery in 1993 of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which collided with the planet Jupiter in 1994. Levy has discovered 22 comets, and written over 34 books. The asteroid 3673 Levy was named in his honour.

The talk is appropriate for all ages (10 and up) and will last one hour.  David has agreed to sign books time permitting.​

For more information and to register for this free event, visit Levy Lecture.​

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Chris Hadfield Returns to Earth

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Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Russian Flight Engineer Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn sit in chairs outside the Soyuz Capsule just minutes after they landed in a remote area outside the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Hadfield, Romanenko and Marshburn are returning from five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 34 and 35 crews.