Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Café Astronomique: Was Einstein right? Black holes, dark matter and dark energy

The Bookshelf e-Bar, 7 pm

Astrophysicists Eric Poisson and James Taylor are shedding some light on the darkest parts of the Universe. Join them, along with moderator Bob Brooks, for an entertaining and informal discussion ranging from black holes to the elusive dark matter and puzzling dark energy.

Public Star Nights

Join us for star-gazing at the Physics Observatory:

Friday, September 18, 2009 at 8:30pm

Friday, October 16, 2009 at 8pm

No registration required. To reach the Physics Observatory (located on the MacNaughton building's roof), take the elevator to the 5th floor and then the stairs to the 7th floor.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009:

Café Astronomique: From Gastronomy to Astronomy

The Bookshelf e-Bar, 7 pm

Scientist Mike Dixon plans to grow tomatoes on Mars. Gastronomy expert Anita Stewart knows a thing or two about homegrown produce. How do you grow crops in space? Join them, along with moderator Diane Nalini, for an entertaining, inter-disciplinary discussion over drinks and snacks.

Presented in collaboration with The Bookshelf

Friday, June 19, 2009:
Prof. Robert Brooks

Windows On The Universe:
Modern telescopes and what they see

9pm MacNaughton 105

The telescope has come a long way since Galileo first turned his instrument to the skies. We now live in a golden age of astronomy where modern telescopes can be built with mirrors considered impossibly large just a few decades ago. Vast radio-telescope arrays are listening for possible intelligent life in the universe. Space based X-ray and gamma ray telescopes are probing the Universe's most exotic objects, like gigantic black holes in galactic centres. This talk will explore what we have seen and learned from the incredible variety of instruments and telescopes used by modern astronomers.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a star party and observatory tour (also free) hosted by Alumni Affairs, for which registration is required due to limited space. Please register online for the star party here.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009:
Prof. Debra Fischer

Searching for Earths:
The Hunt for Extra-Solar Planets

7pm Rozanski Hall 101

Science fiction writers often depict the billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy as homes for other Earths; so-called M-class planets where life abounds. The science is now catching up to the fiction as more than 300 planets have been discovered orbiting other stars in the past decade. The most surprising attribute of detected planets is their diversity, and we have yet to find anything that reminds us of home. However, humanity is taking the first steps into the solar system and beyond with the goal of detecting thousands of New Worlds. This talk will focus on the types of planets that have been found so far, with an eye toward understanding how our Solar System compares. We will also discuss the conditions that are important for life as we know it and our future plans to one day obtain a picture of a pale blue dot orbiting a nearby star.

Friday, March 27th, 2009:
Diane Nalini Quartet

Intl. Year of Astronomy Jazz Concert

Kiss Me Like That - Songs of the Sky and Stars

8pm War Memorial Hall, $20/$10 + sc

Diane Nalini's upcoming album is a collection of 13 songs inspired by our enduring fascination with the sky and stars. The CD will be launched in spring 2009, with a preview concert on March 27 in Guelph. Read more about it in the "At Guelph" article here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009:
Prof. James L. Hunt

A Random Walk Through Ancient Astronomy

7pm Rozanski Hall 101

Modern western astronomy is the present stage of a very long trail beginning far back in prehistory. It is a science older than physics or even mathematics because it has important and obvious observations that require neither apparatus nor calculation to draw profound conclusions. These early astronomical ideas were centered around the development of an accurate calendar, so important to the agricultural socities of the middle east.
The incorporation of mathematics and observation resulted in the most advanced and perfected of the sciences in the two centuries before the Christian era. This sophisticated lore was passed on to one of the most learned peoples ever to inhabit the planet: the Helenes (Greeks). In their unique way that combined science and philosophy they brought astronomy to an intellectual height hard to appreciate in a pre-telescope world. They debated the nature of the Universe rationally and passed on their questions and conclusions (via the Islamic empires) to the western civilization that was to rise in Italy 1500 years later.