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.

Join us at the Ontario Science Centre for our monthly Solar Observing on the TELUSCAPE observing pad. This is the area in front of the Science Centre's entrance. We use specialized telescopes that are safe to aim at the Sun. Check our home page on the Friday prior for go/no-go calls as this event is weather dependent.

Pulsars are magnetized spinning neutron stars that emit a beam of radiation. Since the first pulsar was discovered in 1967, thousands have been detected since, and they continue to be one of the most interesting objects in the sky. In this talk, Nikhil Mahajan will go over the history of pulsar astronomy, the reasons why we care about pulsars, and of course, what pulsars really are. Hopefully, this talk will leave you with an understanding of what current pulsar research is all about, and what it may lead to in the future.

Moonless night allowing to see deep sky objects

Presenter: Heather Fong, Graduate Student, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. The direct detections of gravitational waves mark a monumental breakthrough in physics and astronomy. Gravitational waves - ripples in the fabric of spacetime - were first predicted to exist by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity.

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.

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?

Enjoy and learn about the night sky through an engaging presentation delivered by an astronomer. Learn about history, mythology and how to identify star constellations overhead.

When looking at happy & floating astronauts aboard the ISS, all may look calm, but it is certainly not. Come and hear about the myriad hazards to the body in near earth orbit. Our talk will focus on various disease states from space travel, and the clever ways space medicine tries to mitigate the risks. After the talk, you will think twice about taking a ride 200 km straight up.

Almost a century ago, Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies appear to be moving away from us and that farther galaxies moved at faster rates. This discovery revolutionized our view of the Universe and started the field of modern cosmology. Ever since, astronomers have been trying to better measure the expansion of the Universe, the Hubble constant, using numerous standard candles.

Paul Delaney will summarize the state of exoplanetary research and look at the likelihood of exploring the Proxima Centauri star system in the relatively near future.

Measuring light pollution of your sky, see www.globeatnight.org