Join us on Saturday July 14, from 1:30-3:00pm for a Curators’ Panel Discussion: Understanding Astronomical Images, with Paul Delaney, York University. July 4 - 22 | Out Of This World | Juried Group Exhibition

This weekend tour introduces families to the wonders of astronomy through an indoor planetarium experience, craft activities for younger visitors and stargazing. Visitors will spend time in both the main building and observatory visiting the 1.88m (74") telescope, learning its history and getting to see celestial objects firsthand (weather permitting).

Excited about space exploration? Meet Quebec-born Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques. He’ll be flying to the International Space Station on his first mission “Perspective” on December 20. Learn about his journey to becoming an astronaut. Find out what it takes to prepare for a mission in outer space. Get to know what sort of scientific experiments he’ll get himself into in zero-gravity during his six and a half months aboard the International Space Station.

Join us in the gallery at 7:00pm for informal talks by artists about their work. Follow us outside to Lisgar Park across the street when it gets dark - where members of the RASC and York University will set up telescopes.

In this talk, Prof. Roberto Abraham will will try to give you a "cosmic perspective," by describing what we know about the nature of the Universe and your place in it. He will certainly find excuses to show pictures of pretty galaxies and will talk about the impending launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and which is going to be insanely great.

Supernovae are the most violent explosions in the universe, where the death of a star can release more light than an entire galaxy. But how does a supernova happen? What would happen if one happened in our own Milky Way? In this talk, Yvette Cendes will cover what causes a supernova event, and what they can tell us about how stars live and die in our universe. She will also discuss the human history of supernova observations, ranging from historic observations a thousand years ago to her present-day research involving radio signals from supernovae.

Embark on an expedition to determine whether a planet could support human life. Experience what it is like to be a space scientist or engineer and remotely operate an analogue rover in this simulated mission. Form a team of planetary scientists led by researchers from the Planetary Volatiles Laboratory at York University. Explore your mystery planet using instruments, like anemometers and Geiger counters, similar to those used on rover missions to Mars. Recommended ages: 8 and up

When we observe the universe we see light from stars, gas and galaxies, but this makes up merely 4% of the universe. We think that a much larger fraction of the universe is made up of “dark matter,” which is invisible and only interacts through gravity. Dark matter is critical to how all the galaxies we see evolve, but the nature of dark matter is still a mystery. This talk tells the story of how the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a compound-lens telescope with a revolutionary design that enables it to image faint, diffuse structures, is attempting to understand dark matter.

Join scientists from McMaster University’s Physics and Astronomy Department for an entertaining night filled with scientific discussion, trivia, and beer. At Science on Tap, you’ll have the opportunity to interact with researchers in various scientific fields as they present some of science’s most intriguing phenomena. There will be plenty of time to ask questions while the scientists are on stage, or afterwards over cold pints. Come try this educational twist on a night out at the pub. Admission is FREE! Doors open at 7pm, event starts at 8pm.

For thousands of years, people have gazed up at the sky without realizing its hidden secrets: that most of the stuff out in space cannot be seen with our eyes! It is only in the last 100 years or so, with the use of new instruments like radio telescopes, we have begun to reveal this invisible universe. Dr. Jennifer West will discuss some of the things that we hope to learn and also the challenges and possible new technologies that come with it. Drop-in program. First come, first seated.