This is the 13th annual symposium organized by ASX and this year we'll be asking "is this science or fiction?" about topics from aliens to cosmology. We are also pleased to announce that Justin Trottier, the co-founder of ASX, will be our MC for this event. Come join us for an exciting night! We are honored to be featuring Professor Fred Adams, cosmologist at the University of Michigan and co-author of “The Five Ages of the Universe,” Professor Lynn Rothschild of the NASA AMES Research Centre and Brian Trent, science fiction writer and author of “The Nightmare Lights of Mars.”

The quest for ever-clearer views of the sky has driven astronomers to put telescopes in such remote places as the centre of Antarctica. Professor Keith Vanderlinde talks about his work with the 10m South Pole Telescope, and the science that convinced him to undertake an eleven-month "winterover" position. Drop-in program. First come, first seated.

For thousands of years, people have wondered whether life exists anywhere other than on Earth. With recent discoveries of hundreds of potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, we are tantalizingly close to answering this question.

The stars of the night sky appear gentle, peaceful and unchanging. But this is a lie. The Universe is a violent and catastrophic place, with dozens of tools at its disposal to wipe out all life on Earth with almost no warning. Astronomers are still only beginning to appreciate the true scope of the dramatic forces that drive the Universe's evolution. With Dr. Bryan Gaensler from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics. Drop-in program. Limited space. First come, first seated.

Showtimes: 1:00pm, 2:00pm, and 3:00pm Centuries before Galileo observed the moons of Jupiter, scientists in the Middle East were building the first cameras and developing the physics of light. Without the benefit of modern technologies, they took some of the first steps in understanding the motions of the planets and in explaining the nature of the Universe.

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm Centuries before Galileo observed the moons of Jupiter, scientists in the Middle East were building the first cameras and developing the physics of light. Without the benefit of modern technologies, they took some of the first steps in understanding the motions of the planets and in explaining the nature of the Universe.

Join Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson for an evening of engaging conversation on science, exploration and the world as we know it.

Over the last twenty years, we have discovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars. We are now in a position to analyse this population statistically, look for trends, and ask whether our Solar System is typical among the galaxy or whether it stands out as unique.

The galaxies we see in the universe are aligned along huge intersecting filaments. Using telescope observations and computer simulations, Alexander van Engelen of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics describes cosmologists' understanding of how these filaments formed after the Big Bang from a Universe that was initially very smooth. Presented in collaboration with the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Over the last twenty years, we have discovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars. We are now in a position to analyse this population statistically, look for trends, and ask whether our Solar System is typical among the galaxy or whether it stands out as unique.