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On the evening of the first Thursday of each month in downtown Toronto, we give you an hour with a young researcher, followed by planetarium shows and free observing through our telescopes.

Next Free Public Talk: May 2nd

Extreme Planets: The Big, the Hot and the Ugly

2 May 2013, 9:10pm

Room 106, McLennan Physical Laboratories Bldg.

60 St. George Street (north of College St.)

Plus, free planetarium shows and telescope observing sessions.

Complete details and schedule.

The Talk

“Our galaxy is a vast expanse, home to hundreds of billions of stars and a similar number of planets. For many years, scientists believed that any planetary systems found around other stars must be similar to our own Solar System.

Boy, were they wrong! Since the first extrasolar planet discovery, some twenty years ago, scientists have continuously been shocked and intrigued by what they’ve found. With ever-improving technology, new exotic worlds are still being revealed.

For this public lecture, I will talk about some of the strangest and most unexpected planet discoveries in human history, and the ingenious methods used by astronomers to find planets hundreds of trillions of kilometres away.”

Your Speaker

Lisa Esteves

Lisa Esteves is a first-year PhD graduate student currently working on understanding and characterizing exoplanets using the Kepler Space Telescope. Raised in Toronto, she did her undergraduate studies in Physics at the University of Guelph and spent a year travelling before returning to Toronto for grad school.

General Info about the Monthly Tours

This activity is run entirely by volunteers among the graduate students in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. Check their webpage, or get the three-part run-down below.

Our graduate students give you an hour with a young researcher — enough to answer all your questions about black holes and 2012, or to give you an idea of life in Antarctica. Because the speakers themselves are often students, they still remember how hard it is to get your head around these concepts the first time: everyone is encouraged to attend! Click here to see what the next talk is about.

You can access our rooftop observatory, thanks to the dedication of about a dozen astronomy graduate students. They will be your guides, pointing the telescopes in the right direction for you, and explaining why the objects you see are the way they are. But remember: one thing our crew cannot control is the weather. And because optical telescopes don′t let you to see through the clouds, you should check the weather forecast, both for visibility of the sky and for temperature: the telescope domes are open — not heated or conditioned. Click here to see when the next observing session is scheduled.

In our basement in downtown Toronto, and hooked to a joystick, are a computer and a projector inside a dark inflatable igloo. This gear allows Mike Williams — and the crew of Teaching Assistants he has trained — to fly students, visitors and schoolchildren (25 of them at a time) through the Universe. Along the way, the audience gets an idea of how the Universe all works and fits together. The software and joystick make for an interactive experience, as the show can be modified on the fly. Over 2,000 people have already been through the experience, and so can you, if you book a free seat for a show during the next Public Tour!