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.

Ivan Semeniuk, Science Writer, The Globe and Mail

Eric Poisson, BSc, MSc, Ph.D, Department of Physics, University of Guelph General relativity, Einstein’s greatest scientific achievement is turning 100 this year. The speaker will describe how a companion body can raise a tide on a black hole, much as the Moon raises a tide on Earth and what consequences this can have on the motion of the two-body system.

The full Moon in September is traditionally referred to as the Harvest Moon, the full Moon that is temporally closest to the Autumnal Equinox (September 23 in 2015). As it turns out, this September’s full Moon represents the closest distance a full Moon gets relative to the Earth for this calendar year (a mere 356, 877 km). This makes it a so-called “supermoon” as it appears marginally larger and brighter than other full Moons throughout the year.

Come out and observe a rare total eclipse of the Moon at the Riverwood Conservancy! Join members of the Mississauga Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as they set up large telescopes to look at the Moon. Observing will take place on the green in front of Chappell House. The event starts at 8:30 and is free and open to everyone. Large telescopes will be set up and pointed at the Moon as it moves into the Earth's shadow. The partial phases of the eclipse begin just after 9 pm.

Speaker bios, topics and other details at toronto.nerdnite.com PART 1: CBC – Afternoon PresentationsFREE Admission - 3:00pm-5:00pm Come nerd out about digital at the CBC! React to how we’re building the next generation of user experiences. Lean on our experiences. Sample our methods about Vote Compass. Interact with our interactives team...okay, you get it.