Four of the world’s most distinguished astronomers celebrate 50 years of work and friendship with a road trip through the southwestern United States, discussing and exploring the mysteries of the universe. Recapturing youthful adventures and recounting each other's influences on the most exciting period in astronomy’s history, they share roots from a time following Russia’s launch of Sputnik, when the U.S. accelerated their space program. The four British astronomers spent a formative year together in California in the early 1960s.

Half of all stars in the night sky are actually in pairs or “binaries.” That is, instead of a single star like our Sun, these systems have two stars orbiting each other. Planets in these systems could have twice as many sunrises and sunsets. There could be twice as many solar systems to explore, double the habitable zones and, therefore, more opportunities for life to form! Is this really the case? Life here on Earth fundamentally relies upon the Sun’s (relatively) stable and quiet nature. Binaries, on the other hand, are sometimes found to exchange mass and more often explode!

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is a new and powerful radio telescope that has recently completed construction on a high plateau in northern Chile. The first science results from ALMA include a stunning array of images of astronomical sources ranging from very young stars that are still in the process of forming to galaxies at the limits of the visible universe. Professor Christine Wilson has been involved with ALMA in a variety of roles throughout its design and construction and will give an overview of the telescope itself as well as some of its most exciting science.

Prof. Victoria Kaspi, Department of Physics, McGill University Neutron stars are a celestial gift to scientists. These incredibly dense collapsed stars act as very precise cosmic beacons that help shed light on some of the most challenging problems in modern physics. In her Feb. 3 talk at Perimeter Institute, astrophysicist Victoria Kaspi will explore these strange objects, explain how astronomers are using them to study issues ranging from the origins of the universe to the very nature of matter, and even let the audience hear the cosmic symphony they create.

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm Centuries before Galileo observed the moons of Jupiter, scientists in the Middle East were building the first cameras and developing the physics of light. Without the benefit of modern technologies, they took some of the first steps in understanding the motions of the planets and in explaining the nature of the Universe.

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm Centuries before Galileo observed the moons of Jupiter, scientists in the Middle East were building the first cameras and developing the physics of light. Without the benefit of modern technologies, they took some of the first steps in understanding the motions of the planets and in explaining the nature of the Universe.

Quench your thirst for astronomy! On Thursday, February 11th, at the Tranzac Club! It'll be another fun evening of pints, mind-expanding talks, games and prizes with astronomers from the University of Toronto. Plus, following all the talks and games, there'll be plenty of time and plenty of astronomers around to answer all your cosmic questions.

This is the 13th annual symposium organized by ASX and this year we'll be asking "is this science or fiction?" about topics from aliens to cosmology. We are also pleased to announce that Justin Trottier, the co-founder of ASX, will be our MC for this event. Come join us for an exciting night! We are honored to be featuring Professor Fred Adams, cosmologist at the University of Michigan and co-author of “The Five Ages of the Universe,” Professor Lynn Rothschild of the NASA AMES Research Centre and Brian Trent, science fiction writer and author of “The Nightmare Lights of Mars.”

The quest for ever-clearer views of the sky has driven astronomers to put telescopes in such remote places as the centre of Antarctica. Professor Keith Vanderlinde talks about his work with the 10m South Pole Telescope, and the science that convinced him to undertake an eleven-month "winterover" position. Drop-in program. First come, first seated.

For thousands of years, people have wondered whether life exists anywhere other than on Earth. With recent discoveries of hundreds of potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, we are tantalizingly close to answering this question.