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.

Visit the website for event schedule, tour registration and details.

Join us for our June AstroTour, starting with a talk by Dr. Rachael Alexandroff at 9:00pm on June 7th! After the talk, we will have planetarium shows, telescope observing (weather dependent), and more astronomy activities. Planetarium tickets will be available on a first-come first-served basis outside MP 103 (limit 5 per person) starting at 8:45PM. Any remaining tickets will be available after the talk.

The June 7 Monthly meeting will feature guest speaker David L. Clark, who is a software developer, technical director and astronomy researcher. In his talk he will provide insight into a number of areas of solar-system research in which he is involved: small body dynamics including mini-moons, parent body associations, serendipitous imaging of meteoroids, and large-scale meteoroid stream modelling.

PixInsight has become a popular image processing software package in recent years, especially for deep-sky astrophotography. Ron Brecher has used PixInsight for all of his deep sky processing since 2009. In this demonstration, Ron will show you how you can reveal the hidden treasures in your deep-sky images with just a few processing steps: crop bad edges, correct gradients, balance the colour, supress the noise, “stretch” the histogram and adjust colour, brightness and contrast.

International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) is a NASA-hosted annual worldwide public event that aims to celebrate our appreciation and understanding of Earth's nearest neighbour through art, culture, and science. Join us as we celebrate InOMN at the David Dunlap Observatory. We are planning a range of activities geared for all age-groups including a short talk on the role of lunar missions in understanding the Moon better, Moon viewings through telescopes, and craft activities for children.

The Perseids are the most reliably visible meteor shower at the most favorable part of the summer, the weekend of August 11th, at New Moon. If you have ever seen a shooting star, during a meteor shower you can expect to see many of them, appearing to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky. The meteors are created by particles of comet dust left in this part of Earth's orbit by a passing comet. Peter Millman, one of the first astronomers to work at the DDO, made the study of meteors like these the subject of his Harvard Ph.D. in 1932.

The Mars Opposition is our best opportunity to observe the Red Planet for the next several years. Join us at the David Dunlap Observatory to stage the next Martian Invasion of Richmond Hill.

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).

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).