To celebrate National Science Literacy Week, University of Toronto Science & Engineering Engagement is showing the 1997 Space Exploration film: Contact followed by a Question & Answer session with: Keith Vanderlinde, Assistant Professor, Dunlap Institute and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Laura Newburgh, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics

Neil Turok, Director, Perimeter Institute

Prof. Keith Vanderlinde has spent the last decade building and using telescopes to study the Universe: its composition, history, and eventual fate. Aided by technologies that make cell phones possible, and which make video games a staple of modern culture, he and colleagues from across Canada are building a massive new radio telescope in Penticton, B.C., which will map a larger volume of space than ever attempted before. Lecture: 8:10 - 9:00 PMTelescope observing: 9:00 - 11:00 PM

Alexander Szalay (Johns Hopkins University)

Speaker: Nick Tacik Black holes are one of the most fascinating objects in the universe. From science fiction to the offices of astrophysicists, their mystery has captivated many. But what do we really know about them? Surprisingly, a whole lot! What happens when you fall into a black hole? What happens when two black holes collide? How do we know black holes really exist? What is a wormhole? Is spaghettification even a real word? In this talk, Nick Tacik will answer all these questions, and more, about the wondrous world of black holes.

Professor Keith Vanderlinde has spent the last decade building and using telescopes to study the universe: its composition, history, and eventual fate. Aided by the technologies that make cell phones possible and video games a staple of modern culture, he and colleagues from across Canada are building a massive new radio telescope which will begin mapping a larger volume of space than ever attempted before to study the mysterious Dark Energy which drives the universe's evolution.

Paul Delaney, York University The search for Pluto started in 1781 with the confirmed observation of Uranus. It took until 1930 for an astronomer to find the "9th planet." Little did Clyde Tombaugh know the excitement his discovery would generate in the 21st century. However, the secrets of the last of the "classical planets" would not be revealed until the flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015. This lecture will summarize the history of Pluto and the results sent back to date from New Horizons. The revelations are unexpected!

In celebration of Science Literacy Week, join UTSC for an evening to view the last visible total lunar eclipse until 2019 accompanied by a series of short lectures on astronomy. On September 27, the moon will pass through Earth's shadow, blocking any direct sunlight to the moon and causing it to glow red. The eclipse will also be streamed live on screen in case of weather. Attendees will get a chance to tour UTSC's observatory and look through our telescopes. Refreshments will be provided.

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm How big is the universe? How can we seek to answer this question or understand the answer once we have it? Our universe is much bigger than we imagine it to be but, using analogies and visualizations, we can start to grasp its true dimensions. This planetarium show will journey through the different scales of the universe, starting with familiar objects like the moon and the Earth, and ending with the furthest reaches of the observable universe.

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm How big is the universe? How can we seek to answer this question or understand the answer once we have it? Our universe is much bigger than we imagine it to be but, using analogies and visualizations, we can start to grasp its true dimensions. This planetarium show will journey through the different scales of the universe, starting with familiar objects like the moon and the Earth, and ending with the furthest reaches of the observable universe.