The Department of Physics invites faculty, students and the public to our 41st annual celebration of physics. The Welsh Lectures in Physics have been held annually since 1975 in honour of H.L. Welsh, a distinguished former faculty member in the Physics Department. They are the major public event in the life of the Department of Physics and are intended to celebrate discoveries in physics and their wider impact. They are intended to be broadly accessible to an audience drawn from across the university, other academic institutions and the interested public.

Moonless night allowing to see deep sky objects

Between 1969 and 1972, 12 men traveled over one million kilometers to walk on the surface of the Moon. Today, we couldn’t go back—over the last 40 years, astronauts have not ventured beyond a thin shell surrounding our planet. How is this possible? I will make a case for dreaming big and investing in space exploration, even in the face of our pressing problems closer to home.

Professor James Wadsley is a computational astrophysicist at McMaster University. He makes computer simulations of things that take millions of years to unfold on the sky. He will talk about "the secret lives of galaxies" which demonstrates the evolution of a galaxy in both what we see, and in ways we can't, over the full age of the universe.

Mew Lake Campground in Algonquin Provincial Parkhttp://www.gatewaytotheuniverse.org/star-parties-special-events.htmlhttp://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/visit/camping/mew-lake-campground.php

New Members orientation program – First Light - Spring 2016

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.

Prude Ranch near Fort Davis, Texashttps://texasstarparty.org/

Lunar, Night Sky Landscape, and Deep Sky Photography with DSLR + Editing with Photoshop and LightroomPresenter: Ben Lappalainen

Meteroids, asteroids, comets and dwarf planets are some of the smallest bodies in our solar system and are the focus of several recent space missions: Rosetta, Dawn, and New Horizons. Learn about how Pluto, Ceres and these other tiny wonders continue to amaze and surprise us.

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

Showtimes: 7:00pm, 8:00pm, and 9:00pm Recently, Dr. Mike Brown (aka the Pluto Killer) announced that his group had uncovered evidence that a ninth planet may be orbiting the Sun every 1500 years. We will go on a journey through the sometimes weird history of searching for planets in our solar system and see what evidence Mike Brown has found for a ninth planet. Along the way we will answer questions like “where do planets come from?”; “is our solar system normal?” and “why isn’t Pluto the ninth planet?”