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.
Total Solar Eclipse, Second Contact / Diamond Ring March 2016 Side, Turkey
Photos by Randy Attwood
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.
2016 total solar eclipse. Photo by Randy Attwood
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!
