BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada – Mississauga Centre - ECPv6.15.11//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada – Mississauga Centre X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://rasc.optunia.me X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada – Mississauga Centre REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20260308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20261101T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250509T080000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250509T170000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250318T233244Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250506T224108Z UID:4504-1746777600-1746810000@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:May Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\nStay tuned. URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/may-potpourri/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250506T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250506T230000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250425T192040Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250425T192045Z UID:4661-1746565200-1746572400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/public-star-party-at-the-riverwood-conservancy-7/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/starparty_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250506T080000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250506T170000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250506T223926Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250506T223926Z UID:4687-1746518400-1746550800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY: DESCRIPTION: URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/4687/ LOCATION:Ontario END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250425T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250425T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240722T180655Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250421T233031Z UID:3985-1745611200-1745618400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Canada’s Lunar Rover Mission Update DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis\nThe talk will focus on Canada’s Lunar Rover Mission\, including a background on lunar exploration\, Canada’s role in this international endeavour and the progress made so far on the development of the rover. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Perry Edmondson  \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio: Perry is a life-long space enthusiast and avid supporter of manned and robotic space exploration. He has over 28 years of experience in the Canadian space industry working on commercial and government space projects in various technical and management roles. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa\, Ontario\, Canada in 1996 followed by a Master’s degree in Astronautical Engineering from the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles\, California\, USA in 2011 and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He is also an alumnus of the International Space University’s Space Studies Program (2005). For the past 7 years as Program Manager at Canadensys\, he has managed numerous space mission proposals\, concept studies and technology development projects for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)\, primarily related to lunar rovers. He is currently managing the development of CSA’s Lunar Rover Mission (LRM) atCanadensys. \nBanner Credit: Canadian Space Agency URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/canadas-lunar-rover-mission-update/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CSA_Rover.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250411T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250411T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250108T013648Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250331T170800Z UID:4362-1744401600-1744408800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Potpourri - April DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\nStay tuned… URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/porpourri-april/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250408T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250408T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20241104T173607Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250302T231931Z UID:4182-1744144200-1744149600@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Star Party: April 2025 DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/star-party-april-2025/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/starparty_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250328T143000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250328T160000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250303T164337Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250303T200947Z UID:4476-1743172200-1743177600@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:2025 E.A. Robinson Lecture in Science Education at UTM (or via Zoom) DESCRIPTION:The University of Toronto Mississauga cordially invites you to attend — in-person or virtually — the 2025 E.A. Robinson Lecture in Science Education\, an endowed lectureship in honour of a former Principal and Chemistry professor at UTM.   The lecture is on Friday March 28 at 2:30 pm in room CC2150 CCT Building\, UTM.  The speaker is Professor Pierre Chastenay (UQAM)\, a leader in astronomy education\, outreach\, and communication in Canada.  His awards and honours fill two pages in his c.v.\, single-spaced\, and include membership in the Order of Canada.  He will be speaking on “Learning Science: One Misconception at a Time.  The talk should be of interest and value to anyone doing teaching or outreach. \nPlease see this flyer for more information: EAR flyer 2025 \nFollow this link to register to attend the lecture\, either in-person or virtually: https://forms.office.com/r/VxF1VqE9y5 URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/2025-e-a-robinson-lecture-in-science-education-at-utm-or-via-zoom/ LOCATION:Room CC2150 – CCT Building\, UTM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250321T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250321T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250108T012712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250304T162028Z UID:4348-1742587200-1742594400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Speaker Night - New Observatory DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis – Reconnecting Students to the Cosmos with Experiential Learning\nAbstract: Astronomy education is losing its connection with the night sky. Urbanization\, automation\, and computerization have all made it less and less likely that a typical astronomy undergraduate will use a telescope as part of their training. Most undergraduates at big urban campuses use archival or simulated data in their courses\, rather than learning to make their own observations. At the University of Toronto\, we are trying to change this. As part of a recent partnership with the RASC Toronto Centre\, we have constructed a new 0.5-m observatory at the E. C. Carr Astronomical Observatory near Collingwood. For the first time in more than 15 years\, our students can make overnight observing trips to a real telescope. They can physically interact with a research-grade telescope at a dark site\, learning how to handle equipment and how to find their way around the sky. They also have the chance to interact with the real experts on the night sky—RASC members! In this talk\, I will report on the first year using the new telescope with students\, and on other experiential learning initiatives at U of T that aim to connect students directly with the sky. I will warmly welcome discussion with the audience about pathways for keeping students in touch with the cosmos. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio: Dr. Michael Reid is an Associate Professor\, Teaching Stream in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. He specializes in developing astronomy courses that make complex astronomical ideas\, from the Big Bang to alien life\, accessible to everyone. He’s passionate about sharing the science and wonder of astronomy with all audiences. URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/speaker-night-tba-2/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250307T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250307T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250108T012246Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250304T162131Z UID:4344-1741377600-1741384800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Potpourri - March DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\nChris Malicki presents a Travel Story: \nAstronomy in London art: Astronomical themes in paintings from the great London museums. \n \nChris McNeely presents a Book Review:\nA History of the Universe in 21 Stars (and 3 imposters) by Giles Sparrow\n \nPurvesh Dave presents a Travel Story:\nMy trip to Australia: Sharing pictures of the southern hemisphere night sky.\n \n\nRon Macnaughton\nTrips to Mars – getting there and surviving there: After the Apollo landings many thought a trip to the solar system’s second best planet for life would happen soon. Ron will explain various issues which will have to be resolved before the next “giant leap”. \n \nSwapna Shrivastava \nSneak peak of the Seestar S30 (Astronomy equipment) URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/potpourri-march/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250221T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250221T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250108T013146Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250218T031737Z UID:4357-1740168000-1740175200@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Annual Meeting & Speaker Night - Under the Sea: An Update on Space-Based Exploration of Jupiter’s Ocean-Bearing Moons. DESCRIPTION:Youth Club – 7:00pm – 7:45pm\nThe Annual Meeting will commence after the Speaker Presentation ~ 9:00pm\nSpeaker Presentation @ 8:00pm:\nUnder the Sea: An Update on Space-Based Exploration of Jupiter’s Ocean-Bearing Moons. \nIn this talk\, I will provide an overview of NASA’s Clipper and ESA’s JUICE missions to the Jovian system and discuss the motivation for the search for life in these seemingly-unlikely locations. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio: Robin Metcalfe is a professor in the Division of Natural Science at York University\, where she has been teaching astronomy for over 25 years. Robin’s PhD research pertained to extragalactic astronomy but her current interests are in the search for life beyond Earth and the implications of such a discovery on humanity. Through her teaching\, Robin shares her passion for the night sky and the outdoors. She teaches students to appreciate what the night sky has to teach us\, to gain perspective from our place in the Universe\, and to value our precious planet Earth. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Banner Credit:  NASA URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/speaker-night-tba-3/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/space_missions.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250207T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250207T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250108T011653Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250204T153923Z UID:4338-1738958400-1738965600@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Potpourri - January DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members + 1 Professor\n\nProf. John Moores – Book Review – “Daydreaming in the Solar System” which combines science and story to explain what it might feel like to be immersed in other planetary environments. Books will be signed and available for sale ($40).\nRandy Attwood – The Moon’s path through the ecliptic changes over time. The recent occultations of the Pleiades occur in groups with long gaps in between. We’ll look at why this is.\nChris Malicki – A tale of two eclipses\nRob Neill & Swapna Shrivastava – New Equipment hands-on URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/potpourri-night-10/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250124T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250124T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20241122T160502Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250108T200720Z UID:4199-1737748800-1737756000@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:The unreasonable simplicity and complexity of black holes -- Prof. Hari Kunduri DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis\nThe unreasonable simplicity and complexity of black holes \nBlack holes are the one of the best examples of how investigating the extreme limits of a theory can lead to real physical predictions that can be ultimately verified.  Truly\, they must be believed in to be seen. In this talk I will give a short introduction to the geometric ideas underlying general relativity and how black holes emerge from it. I will explain why their classical description is to simple\, but their quantum description poses many interesting problems that continue to challenge theoretical physicists today. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio:  Dr Kunduri completed his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Toronto and then obtained his Ph.D in 2007 from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge. Following this he held postdoctoral fellowships at the Universities of Nottingham\, Cambridge\, and Alberta before taking up an assistant professorship in mathematics at Memorial University in St John’s\, Newfoundland. He joined McMaster University as an associate professor in Mathematics and Physics in 2022. His research focusses on the mathematical theory of black holes in general relativity.  \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Banner Credit: Wikipedia URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/speaker-night-with-prof-hari-kunduri/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/black_hole_wikipedia.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250110T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250110T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20250101T143429Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250108T012909Z UID:4278-1736539200-1736546400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Potpourri - January DESCRIPTION:Various talks by our members:\nWendy Belcher – Travel story \nEgypt and the stars \nAnagha Samaga – Calculating the age of the universe! \nA layman’s guide to calculating the age of the universe using nothing but Excel and the InternetElijah D’Souza – York University Visit \nRagav Dewett \n“Kahoot: Put your knowledge of night sky and space facts to test in a MCQ format trivia and learn something new.Smartphones & Internet connection required” URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/potpourri-2/ LOCATION:DV2072 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241206T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241206T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240828T135145Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241203T193307Z UID:4042-1733515200-1733522400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:December Potpourri Meeting DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\nSwapna Shrivastava – Ireland from the perspective of the Neolithic and Star Wars Mayank Ghai – Wind tunnels: Wind Engineering giving wings to fly Dennis Gasparotto – Dwarf Galaxies: The mystery of Leo Dwarf Galaxy \nHoliday Celebration with Moon cookies and more! \nRyan Zhu (Svbony) & Kevin and Noor (Telescopes Canada) – The Svbony telescope donation & telescope equipment discussion URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/december-potpourri-meeting/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241122T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241122T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20241104T170404Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241124T184817Z UID:4169-1732305600-1732312800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Speaker Night: Asteroids and Spacecraft Missions to Asteroids DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis\nInterest in spacecraft missions to asteroids has been steadily increasing in recent years. The talk will start with an introduction to the fundamental characteristics of asteroids and the reasons behind the current interest. This will be followed by a description of the past and current asteroid missions. One of the necessary elements in designing an asteroid mission is the understanding of the dynamical behaviour of the spacecraft in the vicinity of the asteroid. This behaviour can be quite complex and sometimes very different from that around a large body such as the Earth or another planet. This is so because the highly irregular shape of an asteroid along with its rotational state can lead to a gravitational field that can be significantly different from the standard inverse square field. A brief discussion of the dynamics of a spacecraft orbiting either a single asteroid or a binary asteroid system will be presented. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio:  Prof. Arun K. Misra is currently the Thomas Workman Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well as a member of the Institute for Aerospace Engineering at McGill University in Montreal. His research interests are in the areas of spacecraft dynamics and control\, tethered satellites\, space debris and space robotics. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) as well as of the American Astronautical Society (AAS). He has been elected to the International Academy of Astronautics and to the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is a Co-Editor of the international journal Acta Astronautica. He has received several awards such as the Dirk Brouwer Award of the American Astronautical Society and the Distinguished Service Award of the International Astronautical Federation. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Banner Credit:  NASA URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/speaker-night-asteroids-and-spacecraft-missions-to-asteroids/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/banner_asteroid_missions.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241108T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241108T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240828T134855Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241031T225137Z UID:4036-1731096000-1731103200@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:November Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting \nUTM student talks:\nJoseph Tang:  Searching for Stellar Streams with 10 Million Stars in the Milky Way \nAlyssa Atkinson: Very Long Baseline Interferometry Timing for Localizations \nMember talks:\nDalisay Perez: Northern Lights from an airplane \nKeith Jarvie and Fred Benedikt: Light Pollution Abatement – As Easy as a Walk in the Park?  URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/november-potpourri/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241018T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241018T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240919T231016Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241104T170032Z UID:4075-1729281600-1729288800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:In the footsteps of Edmond Halley - Dan Falk DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis\nHalley’s Comet has become so well known that it overshadows the English astronomer’s other work — but Edmond Halley (1656-1742) made important contributions to many branches of science. He worked out the size and shape of the Earth\, as well as the size of the solar system; he mapped the Earth’s magnetic field\, and studied the tides and monsoons; he tried to solve the problem of measuring longitude at sea; he predicted eclipses. And he was no couch potato: Halley sailed to St. Helena\, a remote island in the South Atlantic\, to chart the southern stars. On a recent visit to England\, Dan Falk walked in Halley’s footsteps in an effort to learn more about his life and legacy. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio:  Dan Falk is a science journalist and author with a particular interest in astronomy and physics. His freelance writing credits include Smithsonian\, Scientific American\, New Scientist\, Discover\, Undark\, Nautilus\, Quanta\, and many other publications. He’s the author of three popular science books: The Science of Shakespeare\, In Search of Time\, and Universe on a T-Shirt. He’s also worked extensively in radio\, and co-hosts a podcast called BookLab\, which reviews popular science books. As well\, asteroid “20039 Danfalk” is named after him. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Banner Credit:  Edmond Halley – Public domain image -wikimedia.com; Comet: March 8\, 1986 by W. Liller\, Easter Island; Wikipedia URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/in-the-footsteps-of-edmond-halley-dan-falk/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/banner_oct_18_2024_halley.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241008T073000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241008T210000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240424T013723Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240424T015909Z UID:3635-1728372600-1728421200@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Riverwood Star Party DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/riverwood-star-party-10/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/starparty_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241004T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241004T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240828T134557Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240930T180626Z UID:4029-1728072000-1728079200@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:October Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Raghav:  Building a Dobsonion base (15 mins) \nDavid: Yerkes Observatory (15mins) \nPurvesh Dev: Common myths in astronomy \nRaghav: Kahoot (15-20 mins) URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/october-potpourri/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240920T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240920T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240819T004429Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240904T131925Z UID:4009-1726862400-1726869600@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Climate conditions on Mars - Alex Innanen. PhD Candidate. York University DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis\nMartian methane has been an intriguing mystery since its first detection 20 years ago. Since then\, we’ve uncovered a seasonal cycle and seen occasional methane plumes\, however the origins of this gas remain unclear. We can study methane here on Earth to learn about how it might behave on Mars\, and to figure out how to study it on the red planet. This talk will give a history of methane detection on Mars\, the questions that still need to be answered\, and how spending three weeks in the Canadian arctic might help us answer some of these questions. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio: Alex is a planetary scientist completing their PhD at York University studying the martian atmosphere. They are a collaborator on the Curiosity rover and take part in science operations planning as well as being a lead on the environmental science team. Alex has also been helping to develop an instrument which will study the origins of mysterious Martian methane. In addition to their studies\, Alex is a member of the organising committee for ComSciConCAN\, a science communication workshop for Canadian graduate students. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Banner Credit: https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/the-deep-mars-colony-93c2290d5733 URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/climate-conditions-on-mars/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/mars_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240910T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240910T213000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240424T013554Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240424T013806Z UID:3633-1725998400-1726003800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Riverwood Star Party DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/riverwood-star-party-9/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240906T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240906T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240828T134328Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240902T224046Z UID:4026-1725652800-1725660000@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:September Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\n  \nRandy Attwood: Canada’s First Astronaut – 40 year anniversary \nOn October 5\, 1984\, Marc Garneau became Canada’s first space traveler when he was launched on the Space Shuttle Challenger during the 13th Space Shuttle mission\, STS 41-G. Randy will show some pictures of the event to celebrate this special anniversary.\nChris Malicki: A solar system project in Anstruther\, Scotland \nSwapna Shrivastava: My experience with my new telescope: the Seestar S-50\nSmart All-In-One APO Telescope \nKeith Jarvie: Starfest experience URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/september-potpourri/ LOCATION:DV2080 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240816T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240816T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240605T153943Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240813T151354Z UID:3917-1723838400-1723845600@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:August Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\n\nRizkallah Botros – First observations to successful astrophotography from an aspiring astrophysicist\nRaghav Dewett – Starfest 2024 highlights and A two wheeled journey to Aurora\nStarfest talks from various members  URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/august-potpourri/ LOCATION:UTM Davis (DV) 3140 CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240813T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240813T223000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240424T013341Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240424T013454Z UID:3631-1723582800-1723588200@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Riverwood Star Party DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/riverwood-star-party-8/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240719T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240719T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240605T153804Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240701T154431Z UID:3912-1721419200-1721426400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:July Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Kirby: update on dark sky observing sites for the Centre\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n John and Leslie: Starfest 2024\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Randy: a talk on the 55th anniversary of the Apollo mission.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Raghav: Trivia quiz using Kahoot (requires smartphones) URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/july-potpourri/ LOCATION:UTM IB 120\, Instructional Centre\,\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5L 1J7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240717T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240717T223000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240424T013052Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240717T175534Z UID:3629-1721250000-1721255400@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Riverwood Star Party DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nWe’re a GO FOR TONIGHT (WEDNESDAY)!\n\nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/riverwood-star-party-7/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240621T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240621T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240515T223749Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240605T153154Z UID:3726-1719000000-1719007200@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:To Bennu and back: The OSIRIS-REx mission and the significance to Canada DESCRIPTION:Talk Synopsis\nThe OSIRIS-REx mission is a NASA-lead mission to a carbonaceous Near-Earth Asteroid Bennu and return the sample back to Earth in September 2023. An extended mission will take the spacecraft into orbit around near-Earth asteroid Apophis in 2029. OSIRIS-REx was launched on September 8\, 2016 and rendezvoused with Bennu on December 3\, 2018. It then spent a significant time analyzing the surface of the asteroid\, which several instruments\, including OLA a Canadian instrument. On October 20\, 2020 OSIRIS-REx touched down on Bennu and successfully collected a sample. As part of Canada’s contribution to the mission\, it will receive 4% of the returned mass\, for which we are actively preparing for. As the initial letter in the acronym OSIRIS-REx signifies one of the core mission objectives is to return a sample of an asteroid to help us better understand the origins not only of the solar system but perhaps also ourselves. The material returned is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the solar system\, its initial stages of planet formation\, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Bio: Dr. Tait is the Senior Curator of Mineralogy and oversees all the collections and research programmes related to meteorite\, gem\, mineral and petrology at ROM. She is also a cross-appointed Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto. Dr. Tait started studying geology at the University of Manitoba\, and although many aspects of geology interested her\, her second-year mineralogy course stuck out as her favorite. It gave her the opportunity to learn about different types of minerals\, how to identify them\, and the chemical formulas that apply to each of them. She leads a research program employing diffraction and spectroscopy to characterize phosphate and phosphide minerals and analog synthetic phases at ambient and extreme conditions in terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials. Her program currently has a strong focus on Martian meteorites\, but she is interested in rare achondrites and lunar samples. She is a member of the Mars Sample Return Campaign group\, a joint NASA-ESA group which is planning for the return of Mars samples in the 2030s. She is also a co-investigator on the science team for the Canadian instrument OLA on the OSIRIS-REx mission. \nPhoto credit: ROM/Paul Eekhoff \nBanner Credit: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/osiris-rex.html URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/to-bennu-and-back-the-osiris-rex-mission-and-the-significance-to-canada/ LOCATION:UTM Davis (DV) 3140 CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/osirus_rex.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240618T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240618T223000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240424T012342Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240618T155709Z UID:3627-1718701200-1718749800@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Riverwood Star Party DESCRIPTION:Public Star Party at The Riverwood Conservancy \nPlease register on the Riverwood website URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/riverwood-star-party-6/ LOCATION:Riverwood Park\, Mississauga\, 4300 Riverwood Park Lane\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5C 2S7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Star Party ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/polaris_double_star.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240607T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240607T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240602T180301Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240608T004458Z UID:3897-1717790400-1717797600@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:June Potpourri DESCRIPTION:Potpourri Meeting – various talks by members\n\n2023 Astrophotography Contest\nAurora Chasing\nAurora Photos\nPlanning your astronomy sessions. URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/potpourri/ LOCATION:UTM IB 120\, Instructional Centre\,\, Mississauga\, Ontario\, L5L 1J7\, Canada CATEGORIES:Potpourri Meeting ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/potpourri_meeting_banner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240524T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240524T220000 DTSTAMP:20260419T120251 CREATED:20240311T212618Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240321T192305Z UID:3539-1716580800-1716588000@rasc.optunia.me SUMMARY:Speaker Night - John E. Moores - Our Celestial Rosetta Stone DESCRIPTION:JOHN E MOORES\, York University\nOur Celestial Rosetta Stone:Exploring our Family of Planets to Understand Processes Across the Cosmos \nIn the past 30 years\, telescopes in space and on the ground have discovered thousands of extrasolar planets\, providing us with a representative sample of the worlds that orbit other stars in our galaxy for the first time. However\, our knowledge of these planets is limited to no more than a few datapoints for each one by the vast distances that separates us. Yet\, though these places live mainly in our mind’s eye\, we can construct remarkably accurate pictures of the processes which dominate their environments. We can do this because of our understanding of planetary processes that we have gained through 62 years of robotic solar system exploration. This hard-won experience\, like a celestial Rosetta Stone\, allows us to translate our sparse information about the exoplanetary realm into the language of our familiar solar family of planets. However\, unlike the famous artifact\, we can still write new chapters to the translation. Exoplanets tell us about the full diversity of worlds and their circumstances while robotic space exploration missions consider a single representative world from that set up close. Thus\, exoplanetary astronomy and solar system exploration are disciplines in dialogue. By deeply interrogating our nearest neighbors we can expand our understanding of planets everywhere. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n John E Moores is the York Research Chair in Space Exploration and the Director of the Technologies for Exo/Planetary Science NSERC CREATE. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars\, Artists and Scientists and the recipient of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute’s 2022 McCurdy Award. John holds a B.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Planetary Science. An author on nearly 80 peer reviewed publications in planetary science\, John has also been a member of five NASA and ESA-led space mission teams. The contributions of his research group to robotic space exploration have been recognized with sixteen NASA group achievement awards. His first popular science book\, Daydreaming in the Solar System\, co-authored with colleague Jesse Rogerson\, will be published by the MIT Press in October. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This will be an in-person meeting only. \nPhoto by Shakeel Anwar \n  URL:https://rasc.optunia.me/event/speaker-night-john-e-moores/ LOCATION:DV3130 William Davis Building UTM CATEGORIES:Speaker Night ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://rasc.optunia.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/saturn_jupiter_shakeel.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR