Join us when Astronomer John Read shares with us ways to get the most out of your beginner telescope.

This is a great presentation for novice astronomer astronomers.

Join Nova Scotia author and astronomer John A. Read as we explore:

• The three most popular RASC certificate programs.

• Using a finder and a star map, to find the required targets (star hopping 101).

• How to use that department store telescope sitting in your closet (we’ll explore three types).

• Using John’s stargazing books to track your progress and earn these RASC certificates.

John A. Read is a telescope operator at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory and a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).

In 2020, he graduated with an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Saint Mary’s University and was presented with the RASC’s Simon Newcomb award for his collection of astronomy books for beginner observers.

His latest book, 110 Things to See With a Telescope, (a tour of the Messier objects), was released in August of this year.

The next Virtual Speaker Meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will take place on Friday May 28 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. via Zoom.
This meeting is free and open to everyone. Please feel free to share.

Talk Title: ROM Martian Meteorites and Mars Sample Return

Although the ROM does have an exceptional martian meteorite collection, there is still much to be learned about Mars. Dr. Kim Tait will discuss the goals of the Mars Sample Return Program, and her role in the mission.

Speaker: Dr Kim Tait, Royal Ontario Museum

Kimberly Tait is a Curator of Mineralogy and oversees mineralogical, gemmological and meteoritic research at the ROM. She is also a cross-appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto.

This meeting is free and open to everyone. Please feel free to share.

 To Attend this Virtual Meeting

Time: May 28, 2021 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join the Zoom meeting

Meeting ID: 816 2969 1776

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The next Virtual Speaker Meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will take place on Friday September 11 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. via Zoom.
This meeting is free and open to everyone. Please feel free to share.

Talk Title: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Black Holes, and Project Orion

The space science behind Hugo Award-winning science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer's new novel, The Oppenheimer Alternative 

Speaker: Robert Sawyer, Science Fiction Writer

Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Award Winner

Bestselling futurist Robert J. Sawyer has been called “Canada’s answer to Michael Crichton” by The Toronto Star and “a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation” by The New York Times.

Now he turns his keen eye back on the past in this, the 75th-anniversary year of the birth of the atomic age. His 24th novel, The Oppenheimer Alternative, tells the secret history of physicists behind The Manhattan Project, the desperate effort to create the world’s first atomic bomb.

As J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of that project, famously observed after the first A-bomb exploded, “Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.” And, in our reality, that remained his legacy.

But in the “What if?” vein of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, Sawyer’s novel veers cleverly into alternate-history territory. Oppie and his colleagues — including Edward Teller (the inspiration for Dr. Strangelove), flamboyant Richard Feynman, Leo Szilard, Kurt Gödel, and Enrico Fermi — join forces with Albert Einstein, ex-Nazi rocketeer Wernher von Braun and computing pioneer John
von Neumann to try to save our planet from impending ecological doom. If they succeed, they’ll be able to declare, “Now we have become Life, the saviors of our world.”

Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”). His latest novel—his 24th—is The Oppenheimer Alternative.

 Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.

 He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Rob lives just outside Toronto. His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.

·      Website: https://sfwriter.com

·      Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/robertjsawyer

·      Facebook: https://facebook.com/robertjsawyer

·      Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertjsawyer (@RobertJSawyer)

·      More about The Oppenheimer Alternative is here: https://sfwriter.com/exoa.htm

·      Cover art is here: https://sfwriter.com/covers.htm

·      Author photos are here: http://sfwriter.com/photos.htm

·      Rob’s press kit is here: https://sfwriter.com/presskit.htm

The next Virtual Speaker Meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will take place on Friday September 11 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. via Zoom.
This meeting is free and open to everyone. Please feel free to share.

 To Attend this Virtual Meeting

Join Zoom Meeting:
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Meeting ID: 895 0053 8232     Passcode: 696885     
 
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The March 20th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the Apollo 13 mission.

Talk Title: Apollo 13 - The Flight That Failed

Speaker: Randy Attwood

President - Mississauga Centre RASC

Abstract:   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.

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.

Media Experience

He has appeared on CTV, CBC, GLOBAL and the Discovery Channel to provide background information for space and astronomy related stories since 1981, has covered 12 space shuttle launches and landings as a journalist and as a Canadian Space Agency photographer. Between 1981 and 1994 he produced and hosted 63 astronomy cable television shows called Astronomy Toronto which are stored on the Society’s RASCANADA You Tube Channel.

Travel and Career

He has travelled to various places around the world to observe and photograph 12 total eclipses of the sun. He has written High School Astronomy text book units on astronomy and presented planetarium programming at schools. He is the President of The Earthshine Astronomy and Space Science Organization, a Mississauga based not for profit charity organization. Earthshine hopes to build and run a public astronomy facility in the Mississauga area. He is also on the Board of Directors of Space Place Canada – a non for profit charity whose objective is to build and run a large planetarium / astronomy/space exploration educational facility in the greater Toronto area.

Honors

- In 2005 he was awarded the RASC’S Service Award.

- in 2013 he was named as one of the first Fellows of the RASC.

- In 2012, Asteroid 260235 was renamed Asteroid Attwood in his honor.

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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The January 24th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on Time Travel.

Talk Title: Time Travel in Fact and Fiction

Speaker: Dan Falk

Abstract:  

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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The June 21 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on Apollo 11 mission.

Talk Title: Apollo 11 - bringing the Apollo program to a new generation

Speaker: Ben Feist

Abstract:  

Ben Feist, a local from here in Toronto, creator of Apollo17.org, and part of the team who made the 2019 Documentary Apollo 11, will take RASC members through his latest project, Apollo 11 in Real Time: a website that presents the entire historical mission archive in a multimedia experience and contains over 11,000 hours of mission control audio that hasn't been heard since 1969. Ben will also talk about his new job at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he is applying new ideas to mission data management and visualization based on his historical work

A CBC article on Ben Feist

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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The May 24 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on cosmology.

Talk Title: Echoes of Our Beginnings

Speaker: Renée Hložek

Assistant Professor of Astrophysics

Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics &

Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

University of Toronto

Abstract:

By listening to the cold, dim hiss of the universe, we can learn about its fiery beginning. Prof. Renée Hlozek's talk will focus on how cosmologists use microwave instruments to measure this birth-light. She’ll describe the exciting new Simons Observatory in the Atacama Desert of Chile, and how it will allow us to learn about the beautiful universe we live in. As we learn about what the universe contains, how it started and ultimately how it is going to end.

I am an Assistant Professor of Astrophysics at the Dunlap Institute in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto in Canada.

I am a TED Senior Fellow and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University. Before that I completed my DPhil in Astrophysics from Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. Beyond my research I am passionate about outreach and the public understanding of 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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The April 26 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on clouds on Mars.

Talk Title: Martian Water-Ice Clouds

Speaker: Charissa Campbell

Astronomy Graduate Student, York University

Abstract:

Clouds on Mars has been observed from the surface and orbit to better understand the role of water in the Martian atmosphere. During aphelion, atmospheric temperatures are cool enough in the equatorial regions to allow water-ice to nucleate on dust particles, revealing the Aphelion Cloud Belt (ACB). Both Opportunity and Curiosity have studied the ACB while Phoenix was confined to cloud studies near the north pole. Several properties of Martian water-ice clouds have been studied including optical depth, frequency through a sol (Martian day) and wind parameters. One parameter, altitude, is difficult to measure from the surface without a lidar instrument. Unlike Phoenix, Curiosity does not have a lidar and must rely on atmospheric models to help estimate altitude through correlations between observational and modelled results. Evaluating this parameter for the ACB can help determine the behaviour of water-ice clouds throughout the low and middle atmosphere.

Speaker:

Ms. Charissa Campbell completed her Bachelor of Science in Astronomy & Physics from Saint Mary’s University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Astronomy & Physics at York University under Dr. John Moores, where she is part of the MSL team analyzing the altitude of clouds on Mars. Her focus is on analyzing atmospheric movies to find the altitude of Martian clouds and has displayed her research progress at the 2017 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC).

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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The February 22 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on two Apollo missions.

Talk Title: The Apollo 9 and 10 Missions - preparing a path for a manned lunar landing

Speaker: Randy Attwood

Abstract:

By February 1969 - 50 years ago - NASA was still celebrating the successful Christmas Apollo 8 mission to the Moon. The Lunar Landing looked doable in 1969. Still, there was much to be done before the first landing attempt. In March and May 1969, two Apollo missions were flown to answer several questions - what was it like to fly the Lunar Module - first in the Earth environment, then in orbit around the Moon. The success of these two missions paved the way to a landing attempt in July 1969 on the Apollo 11 mission.

Speaker:

J. Randy Attwood is a resident of Mississauga and has been looking up at the night sky for nearly 50 years. He remembers watching the Apollo missions and has studied them ever since.

He is currently the Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He is the founder and Past-President of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and a Past President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and the Toronto Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He is the Publisher of the Society’s bi-monthly astronomy magazine Skynews. In 2013 he was named as one of the first Fellows of the Society. In 2005 he was awarded the Society’s Service Award. 

Between 1981 and 1994 he produced and hosted 63 astronomy cable television shows called Astronomy Toronto In 2012, Asteroid 260235 was renamed Asteroid Attwood in his honour.

 Note: the talk will be preceded by the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Centre. The talk will begin at approximately 9 pm

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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The January 25th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the February 1979 Total Solar Eclipse.

Talk Title: The 1979 Total Solar Eclipse

Speaker: Michael Watson and Randy Attwood

Abstract:

Forty years ago, the Toronto Centre mounted an expedition to observe the February 26, 1979 total solar eclipse from Gimli, Manitoba. Before organized tours to see eclipses were readily available, the Toronto Centre organized their own trip - with two chartered aircraft which left early eclipse morning and returned to Toronto later that day. The trip organizer, Michael Watson will review the circumstances of the eclipse and the efforts required to organize the expedition. A slide/audio presentation of the day trip was produced back in 1979. A newly edited video of the slide show, edited and produced by Randy Attwood, will be shown for the first time.

 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.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The December 7th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the Apollo 8 mission.

Talk Title: Stories From Apollo 8

Speaker: Andy Chaikin 

Abstract:

December 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the famous Apollo 8 Moon mission. Andy Chaikin will share stories from the historic mission including anecdotes from his interviews with the 3 Apollo 8 astronauts, and details on the mission’s origins and aftermath from his own in-depth research.

Award-winning science journalist and space historian Andrew Chaikin has authored books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for more than three decades. Writer-director and explorer James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens of the Deep) called him “our best historian of the space age.”

Chaikin is best known as the author of A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, widely regarded as the definitive account of the moon missions. First published in 1994, this acclaimed work was the main basis for Tom Hanks’ 12-part HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, which won the Emmy for best miniseries in 1998. Chaikin spent eight years writing and researching A Man on the Moon, including over 150 hours of personal interviews with 23 of the 24 lunar astronauts (Apollo 13’s Jack Swigert was already deceased). Apollo moonwalker Gene Cernan said of the book, “I’ve been there. Chaikin took me back.”  

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in room 120 in the Instructional Building. The meeting is open to the public and is free. Seating is limited - the room opens at 7:30. Seating is first come first served.

The event if FREE but registration is required. To register go here UTM Registration.

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Pay and display parking available in lots P4 and P8. Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The November 23rd meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on observational cosmology.

Talk Title: New Frontiers in Observational Cosmology

Speaker: Dr Michel Fich, University of Waterloo

Abstract:

Our most recent generation of cosmology experiments, such as the Planck satellite and observations of distant supernovae, have reduced all of cosmology to the very precise measurement of eight parameters.  This relatively simple model seems complete with no hints of additional elements required to explain the entire evolution of the Universe from the Big Bang to some far distant future. 

These recent results include such things as the precise measurement of the contributors to the overall mass-energy density of the universe.  We know with great precision the amount of Dark Energy, Dark Matter, neutrinos, baryons, etc in the Universe today.  What we do not know is exactly what most of these things really are.  In this talk I will discuss these elements and focus on the new experiments, now in development, that will give us insight into these areas of fundamental physics.  One of the new instruments that will carry out these instruments is CCAT-prime, a telescope that is currently under construction by an international team that includes a strong pan-Canadian group of astronomers.

Dr. Fich is an astronomer specializing in studies of star formation, the interstellar medium, and the structure of galaxies. His recent research activities have focused on “small scale” formation studies of low and intermediate mass stars, circumstellar disks, and the formation of proto-solar systems.

Dr. Michel Fich’s relationship with the university began during his final year of high school, when he was a student competitor in the Sir Isaac Newton Exam, which is run annually by UWaterloo in high schools across the province and even internationally.  Scoring very well on the exam, he received an undergraduate scholarship that allowed him to attend Waterloo. Encouraged by then professor, and future Dean of Science, Don Brodie, Dr. Fich chose to pursue a degree in physics rather than the path he’d planned in engineering.

That path led him to complete his BSc in Physics at Waterloo in 1978, followed by an MA (1981) and his PhD (1983) from the University of California, Berkeley and, ultimately, to a career in astronomy.  He has been a faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Waterloo since 1986.

Today he studies the formation of planets, stars and galaxies using some of the largest instruments built for that purpose.  He is the Canadian leader in the HIFI instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory, SCUBA-2 for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, and most recently, the Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope, a telescope to be built in the mountains of Chile. Dr. Fich says everyone at Waterloo - from students to senior administration - is very supportive of his research at all levels.

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in room SE2074 William Davis Building. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The October 26th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the Dark Universe.

Talk Title: The Dark Universe

Speaker: Dr Laura Parker, McMaster University

Abstract:

Observational astronomers use telescopes that look at the furthest distances in the Universe to look back in time and trace the growth of structure in the cosmos. Recent multi-wavelength measurements have helped us to constrain the components that make up the Universe and how those components evolve. We now know that most of the Universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy, but the nature of these components remains largely unknown. In this talk I will give an overview of the techniques used to map the universe on the largest scales, which have enabled us to measure dark energy and dark matter.

Dr. Laura Parker is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University. Her research group is interested in questions related to galaxy evolution and observational cosmology. In particular her group is trying to understand the connection between observed galaxy properties and the properties of the environments in which we find them, including the relationship between galaxies and their host dark matter halos. 

Dr. Parker completed her PhD in Physics at the University of Waterloo in 2005 and was then a postdoctoral fellow at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Munich before returning to Canada in 2007 to join the faculty at McMaster.

http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~lparker/

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in room SE2074 William Davis Building. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

The September 28th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the southern skies of Australia.

Talk Title: Under Southern Skies

Speaker: Michael Watson

Abstract:

In this talk and slide show, Michael Watson will discuss his recent month-long trip to Australia, which included several nights of stargazing and astrophotography from the dark skies of the Australian Outback.  He will talk about how he prepared for the trip, the equipment that he took, and how he produced the photos that you will see.  His astrophotos will be interspersed with photos of some of the sights from around the Land Down Under.

Michael is well known around the RASC as a 48-year member, an astrophotographer and a solar eclipse enthusiast, and a member of the Society's Board of Directors.  At the July General Assembly in Calgary, Michael gave a photographic presentation on the Milky Way titled “There’s No Place Like Home”.  He has been a guest speaker at previous Mississauga Centre meetings, and is looking forward to returning and sharing the results from his trip to Oz.

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus, in room SE2074 William Davis Building. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

Come out and observe the universe at the Riverwood Conservancy! Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as they set up large telescopes to look at the Moon and stars.

Weather permitting, members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be setting up telescopes to show members of the public spectacular views of the Universe. Observing will take place on the green in front of Chappelle House.  The event starts at 8:30 pm,  is free and open to everyone.

 Large telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Moon and other objects beyond our solar system.  

The May 11 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the Earth's moon.

Talk Title: Earth's Battered Moon: Understanding how impacts from space have shaped our planet

Speaker: Sara Mazrouei, PhD Candidate in Planetary Geology, University of Toronto

Abstract:

Just like the Earth, the Moon is about 4.5 billion years old. It has been and continues to be constantly bombarded by meteorites. Some suggest that this rate of bombardment has remained constant in the past couple of billion years. The Moon’s surface without any substantial atmosphere or tectonic activity serves as a time capsule, helping us detangle Earth’s history. The only way to see if the bombardment rate has changed is to have an age for every single crater, an extremely difficult task using traditional crater dating methods. Recently, it has been shown that the rockiness of large craters’ ejecta provides an alternative means for estimating the ages of Copernican craters (younger than roughly one billion years old). This talk will focus on exploring the rate of bombardment in the past billion years.

Sara Mazrouei  has been interested in outer space since an early age.

"To pursue my passion, I enrolled in the Space Science program at York University and continued to do my master's there. That is where I became more interested in planetary science.  After finishing my master's, I worked as a Young Graduate Trainee at the European Space Agency for a year and then started my doctorate at U of T. I'm doing my PhD at the department of Earth Sciences, using remote sensing techniques to understand the age of impact craters on the Moon. From that data, we can extrapolate the frequency and scale of meteorite impacts on the Earth over time, which is an important part of our planetary history." 

Sara Mazrouei's thesis focuses on the cratering rate on the Moon. She is a science team member on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Diviner team. Sara received her MSc. from York University, where she studied rocks on asteroid Itokawa using data from the Japanese Hayabusa mission. In between her master's and PhD studies, Sara worked at the European Space Agency, calibrating radio science data from the Venus Express. 

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

Come out and observe the universe at the Riverwood Conservancy! Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as they set up large telescopes to look at the Moon and stars.

Weather permitting, members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be setting up telescopes to show members of the public spectacular views of the Universe. Observing will take place on the green in front of Chappelle House.  The event starts at 8:30 pm,  is free and open to everyone.

 Large telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Moon and other objects beyond our solar system.  

The April 6 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on distant galaxies.

Talk Title: The Most Distant Galaxies in the Universe: What we know, and what the James Webb Space Telescope will tell us

Speaker: Dr Adam Muzzin York University

Abstract:

The combined power of infrared observatories both in space and from the ground has allowed us to observe extraordinarily distant galaxies. Some of the most distant are observed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was merely 2% of its current age. Dr. Muzzin will talk about what what observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope have shown us about these exotic young galaxies. He will also introduce the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's $9 billion dollar IR-optimized successor to Hubble. Now is an exciting time, as JWST is preparing for launch in Oct 2018. The primary mission of this extremely powerful telescope is to show us the first stars forming in the first galaxies. He will present what we think those very young galaxies might look like.

Adam Muzzin is an assistant professor at York University in Toronto.  His research focusses on galaxy formation and evolution, particularly the high-redshift universe. Most of his work is on how distant galaxies form and evolve, and how that evolution is related to their larger scale environment.  Due to the redshifting of light, studies of distant galaxies almost always involve infrared observations. 

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

The March  9 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the solar system.

Talk Title: Making The Moon

Speaker: Dr Alan Jackson, CPS Postdoctoral Fellow, 

Centre for Planetary Sciences, University of Toronto

Abstract:

The Moon is an important part of our everyday lives.  It regulates the tides and stabilizes the tilt of Earth's rotation axis, playing an important role in making our planet the place it is today.  The lunar phases were also used to construct the first calendars, and was the first celestial body studied in detail by astronomers, not to mention the only one that has been visited by humans so far.  Compared to other satellites in the Solar system however, the Moon is unusual, so how did it come to be?  I will discuss our current ideas for the formation of the Moon, and how they developed.

Alan Jackson is an astronomer and planetary scientist. Underlying his work is a deep interest in how planets, and the systems they reside in, form and evolve. To study these processes he works to predict the signatures we should see around other stars where planet formation is taking place, and the tell-tale clues that should have been left behind in our own Solar System. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the Centre for Planetary Sciences of the University of Toronto.

"I am an astronomer and planetary scientist. Underlying most of my work is a deep interest in how planets, and the systems they reside in, form and evolve. Within that central theme my work encompasses quite a broad range of investigations. The breadth of this topic also means that it touches on many different fields of expertise, and so I work closely with other researchers. I typically approach questions from a theoretical perspective, whilst always endeavouring to link back to observational or experimental data."

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

The February 9 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on dark matter and dark energy.

Talk Title: The Dark Universe

Speaker: Dr Laura Parker,  Associate Professor

Dept. of Physics & Astronomy McMaster University

Abstract:

Observational astronomers use telescopes that look at the furthest distances in the Universe to look back in time and trace the growth of structure in the cosmos. Recent multi-wavelength measurements have helped us to constrain the components that make up the Universe and how those components evolve. We now know that most of the Universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy, but the nature of these components remains largely unknown. In this talk I will give an overview of the techniques used to map the universe on the largest scales, which have enabled us to measure dark energy and dark matter.

Dr. Laura Parker is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University. Her research group is interested in questions related to galaxy evolution and observational cosmology. In particular her group is trying to understand the connection between observed galaxy properties and the properties of the environments in which we find them, including the relationship between galaxies and their host dark matter halos. 

Dr. Parker completed her PhD in Physics at the University of Waterloo in 2005 and was then a postdoctoral fellow at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Munich before returning to Canada in 2007 to join the faculty at McMaster.

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

The November 24th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the planet Mars.

Speaker: Tanya N. Harrison, Ph.D.  

Director of Research, NewSpace Initiative, Arizona State University

Title: The Past and Present of Water on Mars

From reading article comments online, many people seem to think that scientists are constantly discovering “water on Mars.” This talk summarizes of our current understanding of water in the martian past and present, and the implications of that for the habitability of the Red Planet.

Dr. Tanya Harrison is a “Professional Martian” and the Director of Research for the NewSpace Initiative at Arizona State University. She has worked on multiple NASA Mars missions in science and operations, and specializes in the geology of the Red Planet. Tanya holds a Ph.D. in Geology with a Specialization in Planetary Science and Exploration from the University of Western Ontario. 

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

Come out and observe the universe at the Riverwood Conservancy! Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as they set up large telescopes to look at the Moon, planets and stars.

Weather permitting, members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be setting up telescopes to show members of the public spectacular views of the Universe. Observing will take place on the green in front of Chappelle House.  The event starts at 8:00 pm,  is free and open to everyone.

 Large telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Moon, the planet and Saturn and other objects beyond our solar system.

The October 27th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the Voyager mission to the outer planets.

Talk Title: Voyager at 40

Speaker: Randy Attwood, Mississauga Centre

The two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 - 40 years ago. Over a period of 12 years, they explored the four outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The discoveries changed our understanding of our solar system.

This talk will look at the mission and the discoveries as well as some of the challenges Voyager engineers faced in taking late 1960's spacecraft technology - which lasted only a couple years in space - and extended the lifetime to the required 12 years to complete the mission - and beyond. Now the two spacecraft are leaving the solar system and providing information on the heliopause - the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space.

Randy Attwood is the Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC). As Canada’s national astronomy organization, it can trace its roots back to 1868. With 5,000 members across the country, it is active in promoting astronomy research as well as education and public outreach. 

Attwood has been fascinated with astronomy and space exploration since the days of the Apollo missions. He is interested in astrophotography, he and his wife Betty travel the world to witness total solar eclipses and when it was flying, he witnessed twelve space shuttle launches.

Attwood is a Past President of the RASC, a Past President of the Toronto Centre of the RASC and the founder of the local Mississauga chapter of the Society. He is also President of the Earthshine Astronomy and Space Science Organization – a Mississauga not for profit charitable organization, which has partnered with the RASC to run public outreach astronomy programs at a local Mississauga park since 2009. Earthshine’s mandate is public outreach and it is working on generating support for a public science education facility in Mississauga, which would feature a planetarium and observatory telescope.

Attwood has been active in education and public outreach since 1980. He produced and hosted a local astronomy cable television show in the 1980’s.  He has appeared on local and national radio and television since 1981 to comment on various aspects of astronomical discoveries and space exploration – both manned and unmanned.  In 2012, the International Astronomical Union renamed asteroid 260235 “Attwood” in his honour.

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis 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.

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

Come out and observe the universe at the Riverwood Conservancy! Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as they set up large telescopes to look at the Moon, planets and stars.

Weather permitting, members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be setting up telescopes to show members of the public spectacular views of the Universe. Observing will take place on the green in front of Chappelle House.  The event starts at 8:00 pm,  is free and open to everyone.

 Large telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Moon, the planet and Saturn and other objects beyond our solar system.  We also expect to see a pass by the International Space Station!

The September 22 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on gravitational waves.

Speaker: Catherine Woodford, University of Toronto, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Title: The Discovery of Gravitational Waves

A video of what GW150914 would have looked like if we were close enough to see it

Abstract:

Get an up-close and personal take on the Gravitational Waves discovery that has changed science for the better. Considered the most influential discovery of the century, gravitational wave GW150914 broke records in physics, astronomy, and interferometry - with still more to come. We will talk about what went into the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) that discovered GW150914 from theoretical, engineering, and computer simulation viewpoints, and discuss the outlooks on the future of gravitational wave astronomy.

Bio: I'm a 2nd year PhD candidate in the Physics Department at the University of Toronto and work in the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA). My research falls into two streams: binary black hole simulations and exoplanet simulations. I am a member of the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) collaboration and the Centre for Planetary Sciences (CPS), as well as a planetarium operator for the Dunlap Institute and outreach fanatic. When I'm not thinking or looking at the sky and what lies beyond, I'm volunteering with the Rotaract Club of Toronto, cycling, running, and snowboarding.

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

On Monday August 21, a total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States. 

Here in Mississauga, the eclipse will be partial.

Members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will have telescopes set up at The Riverwood Conservancy to observe the eclipse. 

Properly filtered telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Sun. Hand held solar viewers will be handed out as well as information sheets.

NOTE: do not look directly at the Sun without proper protection. Specially designed solar viewers must be used. Do not look at the Sun with sunglasses, smoked glass or photographic films. Safe viewers will be available for use at the Riverwood event. 

The eclipse will start at 1:10 pm. At 2:33 pm it will be maximum eclipse and approximately 75% of the Sun will be covered. The eclipse will end at 3:49 pm.

If the sky is completely overcast, then the observing event will not take place. 

Come out and observe the universe at the Riverwood Conservancy! Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as they set up large telescopes to look at the Moon, planets and stars.

Saturday July 29 is the first National Star Party. Astronomy clubs across the country are holding a star party tonight to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary since Confederation.

Weather permitting, members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be setting up telescopes to show members of the public spectacular views of the Universe. Observing will take place on the green in front of Chappelle House.  The event starts at dusk is free and open to everyone.

A short lecture called "The Sky Tonight" will be presented at 8:00. 8:30, 9:00 and 9:30 pm in Chappelle House.  All are welcome. Announcements will be made at the telescope site announcing the talks.  

Large telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Moon, the planets Jupiter and Saturn and other objects beyond our solar system.  We also expect to see a pass by the International Space Station!

Note: If the weather is cloudy, the lectures in Chappelle House will still take place. Observing through the telescopes however wold not be possible.

Title: "Life Beyond Earth" 

Speaker: Dr Michael De Robertis, York University

Is there life beyond Earth?  Earth’s fossil records suggest that under the right conditions, simple life can emerge soon after a planet forms.  I will discuss what we mean by the “right conditions” and where these might be found in our own solar system and beyond. 

And what about complex life?  How ubiquitous might intelligent civilizations be among the billions of stars and galaxies in the observable universe?  Some have argued that the evolution of intelligence should be commonplace.  If so, others ask, where are they, why haven't we any evidence for these civilizations?  What might the prevailing silence mean? 

Finally, I will describe strategies used by scientists to search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, speculate on whether these will succeed in the near future and what their success might mean for humankind. 

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Directions: Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

The May 26th meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on planets orbiting Proxima Centuari B.

Talk Title: Exoplanetary Update: Proxima Centauri B

Speaker: Paul Delaney, York University

The first exoplanet was found orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995. In the intervening 20 years, thousands of exoplanets and exoplanetary candidates have been detected suggesting that exoplanets are very common. That of course does not imply the Earth-like planets are common but again, recent statistics suggest that at least one star in 6 contains an Earth-like planet. With the detection of an exoplanet in the Habitable Zone of Proxima Centauri b, speculation and excitement has been aroused about the possibility of exploring that planetary system during the 21st century. Project Starshot even suggests that such a launch maybe only 20 years or so away. This presentation will summarize the state of exoplanetary research and look at the likelihood of exploring the Proxima Centauri star system in the relatively near future.

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. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Paul Delaney was born in South Australia and received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia in 1978 and his Master of Science from the University of Victoria, British Columbia in 1981. Since that time, he has worked as a nuclear physicist for Atomic Energy of Canada and a support astronomer at McGraw Hill Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.

He has been a member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at York University since 1986. He is a Senior Lecturer teaching a variety of astronomy related courses to science and non-science students. In addition he is the Coordinator of the campus Astronomical Observatory which offers a teaching laboratory environment for science students studying astronomy and extensive Public Outreach access to the community. Between 2002 and 2016 he was the Director of the Division of Natural Science, an academic unit that exposes nearly 12,000 undergraduate students annually to the world of science. He was the Master of Bethune College, one of York’s 8 undergraduate student Colleges, from 1994 until 2005.

He is a passionate educator and delights in discussing the wonders of the universe with people of all ages. Along with his undergraduate Observing Team, he coordinates an extensive Public Outreach program in astronomy including hosting a 1 hour internet radio program ‘YorkUniverse” every Monday evening (on astronomy.fm). He considers himself an amateur as well as professional astronomer and has been interested in astronomy and space science for as long as he can remember. He has been the recipient of York University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering Teaching Award (1991), a ‘top 10’ finalist in TV Ontario’s Best Lecturer competition (2005), a recipient of the University Wide Teaching Award (2006), was the winner of the Royal Canadian Institute’s 2010 Sanford Flemming Medal for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of science amongst Canadians, the 2015 recipient of the Qilak Award from the Canadian Astronomical Society recognizing his ongoing commitment to the public awareness and understanding of astronomy and was awarded in 2016 a University Professorship (essentially lifetime achievement) from York University.

Directions: Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!

The April 21st meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the upcoming August 21 total solar eclipse.

Talk Title: Observing and photographing the August total solar eclipse

Speaker: Randy Attwood, Mississauga Centre Honourary President, Michael Watson , Toronto Centre 

The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 presents an opportunity for many amateurs to observer their first total solar eclipse.

These are rare events and may be overwhelming for the novice TSE observer. The presenters have seen several dozen eclipses and will share their experiences with advice to those planning to travel to the centre line.

The evening will cover all aspects of observing, enjoying, photographing and preparing for the experience which will last a scant two minutes.

Randy Attwood  is currently the Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Canada's national astronomy organization. He is the founder and Honourary President of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and a Past President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. In 2013 he was named as one of the first Fellows of the Society. He is currently the publisher of Canada's Astronomy magazine Skynews. 

He is a resident of Mississauga and has been looking up at the night sky for over 40 years. He is the President of The Earthshine Astronomy and Space Science Organization, a Mississauga based not for profit charity organization which runs public science outreach programs in Mississauga.  Randy has appeared on CTV, CBC, GLOBAL and the Discovery Channel to provide background information for space and astronomy related stories.  He has covered 12 space shuttle launches and landings as a journalist and photographer. He has travelled to various places around the world to observe and photograph total eclipses of the sun. He has written High School Astronomy text book units on astronomy and presented planetarium programming at schools.

Asteroid 260235 was renamed Asteroid Attwood in his honour.

Michael Watson is well known in the Society as an astrophotographer.  He is also a veteran eclipse-chaser, having organized or co-lead several eclipse expeditions starting in 1979.  He has seen seven total eclipses, two annular beaded eclipses, and one fully annular eclipse in his 47 years as a member of the RASC.  Michael was on the RASC's National Council for many years, and is the recipient of the Society's Service Award and Simon Newcomb award.

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto,Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2082 in the William Davis Building. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  *** Due to construction we will meet in room SE2074  (just down the hall) ***

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou 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 mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room.

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!