This is the story of one of Toronto's historic observatories, built on a height of land between the Don and Black Creek watersheds, and the story of the man who built it. Join Helen Mills and Lynn Kirk for an exploration of the Beltline Trail and the topography of this industrial and post industrial neighbourhood. Lynn will tell the remarkable story of Bert Topham (1893-1962), an ordinary working man and WWI veteran who got interested in the stars while in the trenches. Bert taught himself astronomy and built an observatory on a hill north west of Dufferin and Castlefield.

Join Prof. Sheila Rowan—Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research in the School of Physics and Astronomy in the University of Glasgow—as she presents a free public lecture Gravitational Waves, a New Astronomy

Everyone is invited to join us and Durham Skies on October 7 for stargazing at the edge of Lake Ontario. Take a free look through different kinds of telescopes to get close-up views of craters on the Moon and the spectacular rings of Saturn. Learn the names of the stars of autumn and the constellation patterns they form. Peer deep into 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.

Become a space traveller and embark on a unique experiential journey of the cosmos from the comfort of your own seat!

Join RCIScience on Tuesday, November 15th for an evening celebrating excellence in science communication as they honour Ivan Semeniuk, with the 2016 Fleming Medal and Citation from the Royal Canadian Institute for Science. The award recognizes Ivan’s outstanding contributions to the public understanding of science.

The OSIRIS REx spacecraft has an ambitious mission – to travel to an asteroid, land, grab some samples and return. How difficult was it to plan a mission like this? What can we hope to learn about our own past by studying these ancient citizens of the solar system?

Astronaut, physician, and chemical engineer Dr. Mae Jemison participates in an on-stage conversation on the interplay between arts and science, and how sci-fi as a genre can carve out a space for often-excluded voices.

11 am to 3 pm daily, every 30 minutes Drawing inspiration from the Mystical Landscapes exhibition, enjoy a fun and educational visit to the planetarium in our Gallery School, and discover the amazing and unexpected landscapes found within our solar system and throughout the universe!

This is the 14th annual symposium organized by ASX and this year the theme is: "What Ifs: Is the Impossible, Possible?" We are honoured to be featuring Dr. Gurtina Besla, assistant professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and PI of the outreach project TIMESTEP; Professor David Kipping, an astrophysicist at Columbia University and lead of the Cool Worlds Lab; and Dr. Quinn Konopacky, assistant professor at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences - University of California, San Diego.

Camping and working in the southernmost, coldest, highest, driest, windiest, least populated continent on Earth is no easy feat! Every year a team of meteorite hunters collects meteorites along the base of the Transantarctic Mountains. How do these explorers survive? What’s so special about these rocks? And why go all the way to Antarctica to find them? Come hear Dr. Marianne Mader, a participant of the 2012-2013 ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) Program talk about her experience and then put yourself in her shoes by practicing a little meteorite hunting of your own!