Finding compelling evidence for life on another planet would undoubtably be one of the biggest discoveries in the history of the human race. There are many places to look for such biosignatures, both in the Solar System and beyond. From the human perspective, the most exciting place is an Earth-twin around a Sun-like star. Chances are good for finding such a planet within the next few years. However, learning anything other than the planet's existence and its most fundamental properties such as mass and radius will be extremely difficult.

This Earth Hour, turn out the lights and turn up the lamplight. Visit Henry House after hours and learn about life before electricity. Costumed guides are on hand this evening to shed light on an earlier time. Look for the Durham Region Astronomical Association (DRAA) in the Henry House gardens as they bring telescopes and chat about star gazing and Earth Hour! This is a come and go event and is free to attend, with donations kindly accepted.

Join the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers between 7:30 and 11:00pm on Saturday, March 24, 2018 at the Niagara Gateway Tourism Centre located just off Casablanca in Grimsby.

See the milky way and galaxies with the unaided eye. Point your telescope to find the many dim deep space objects that sprinkle the sky. Away from Toronto's light polution, there is so much to see. We observe from the Long Sault Conservation area, an hour outside of Toronto. We meet around dusk once a month in the parking lot for views only seen in dark sky conditions. We hold this event on the first clear night of our week-long window, so the date and time are determined closer to.

Solar System Social is a space-themed speaker series that brings exciting ideas and research from the field of planetary science to the general public in the form of short, informative, and interesting talks that last about 20 minutes each.

Speaker: Prof. Barbara Sherwood Lollar From Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo, to Astronaut Mark Watney stranded on Mars, we remain fascinated by the theme of Exploration. Fact can be stranger than fiction however as we discover that even here on Earth, there are parts of the planet we have only begun to probe for new habitable domains and microbial ecosystems.

Science Literacy Week is a week-long celebration of science in Canada. This year will be space-themed and include Run the Solar System.

Watch the recorded video: https://youtu.be/K1AGhzRTcGQ

Explore the universe with members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Telescopes will be set up to provide amazing views of the Moon, the planets and more! Meet at the Chappell House Lawn.

Following up Jim Wamsley’s introduction to telescopes in Part 1, John Gauvreau now guides you through what a beginner can expect from their very first views through that scope.