In this profusely-illustrated, non-technical presentation, you will learn how Toronto became a "centre of the universe" for astronomical research, education, and public outreach, in parallel with the development of our city and our country over the last two centuries.

Everyone is invited to join us and Durham Skies for stargazing at the edge of Lake Ontario. Take a free look through different kinds of telescopes (including solar-filtered scopes) to get close-up looks at sunspots, craters on the Moon, and planets visible in the current night sky. Peer into deep space and try your hand at spotting faint star clusters and nebulae. You can even bring your own telescope along and we'll give you expert advice on how to use it better.

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.

Explore the biggest, fastest, brightest and most extreme things in the universe and check out a meteorite petting zoo! Presented by astronomer Tom Vassos.

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:15pm The stars in the night sky seem unchanging and eternal, and have remained the same for the history of human civilization. However, over millions and billions of years, new stars are born, live out their long lives, and eventually die in a blaze of glory. In this show, we will be exploring the lives of stars by visiting stellar nurseries, supernova remnants and much more!

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:15pm The stars in the night sky seem unchanging and eternal, and have remained the same for the history of human civilization. However, over millions and billions of years, new stars are born, live out their long lives, and eventually die in a blaze of glory. In this show, we will be exploring the lives of stars by visiting stellar nurseries, supernova remnants and much more!

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:10pm

Babak Tafreshi is the founder of The World at Night (TWAN) program, a science journalist, and National Geographic photographer taking images that merge art, culture, and science by bridging Earth & sky. His work reconnects people with the night sky and the values of natural nights. For his global contribution in this field he received the 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award, the world’s most recognized award for scientific photography at the time. @babaktafreshi | babaktafreshi.com

The recent discovery of gravitational waves marks the dawn of a new field of astronomy and provides new opportunities to study several elusive systems in the Cosmos. Compact binaries, made up of pairs of stellar remnants, are difficult to observe with traditional astronomical observations, but they are the most prolific source of gravitational waves. In this talk, Dr. Katie Breivik will give an overview of gravitational-wave astronomy and the exciting astrophysics we have uncovered from the 11 gravitational-wave detections to date.

Speaker: Paul Delaney, University Professor, Senior Lecturer, Allan I. Carswell Chair for the Public Understanding of Astronomy, York University