Category Archives: Meeting

The Queen Elizabeth Planetarium

RASC Regular Meeting, October 18, 2021

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The Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday October 18, 2021

7:00 PM, Meet and Greet

7:30 PM, Meeting begins, including featured film, News from Space, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC news.

FREE and open to the public.

Here’s the correct link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87302917323?pwd=UzBKblFmelhuQUw5M0dTTkFSVVQrZz09

Floating Dome: History, Restoration, and Adaptive Reuse of the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium, 1960-2020

The Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium (QEP), located in Coronation Park, Edmonton, was the first public planetarium built in Canada. This month’s meeting will feature a special documentary film about the restoration of the QEP, made by the architect in charge of the renovation. This film (approximately 30 minutes) features beautiful cinematography and will appeal both to lovers of astronomy and architecture!
 
This meeting will also feature a presentation by Frank Florian outlining Telus World of Science Edmonton’s plans for the newly renovated QEP.
 
Floating Dome

Title Card for the film “Floating Dome”.

Floating Dome Credits

Written by: David Murray, Architect AAA, FRAIC Heritage Consultant

Presented by: David Murray and Brad Alexander, Decor Tile, Edmonton

Produced by: Erna D. Brink, APT Alberta Chapter

Directed, Shot, and Edited by: Steven Hope

 

** Please note that this meeting may be recorded and posted on youtube. By joining you agree to becoming part of this recording. **

RASC Regular Meeting, September 13, 2021

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The James Webb Space Telescope – Astronomy’s Next Eye on the Universe

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday September 13, 2021

7:00 PM MDT, Meet and Greet

7:30 PM MDT, Meeting begins, including guest talk, News from Space, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC features.

FREE and open to the public.

Join the meeting using this Zoom link

Guest Speaker:

Mark Waldman

The James Webb Space Telescope – Astronomy’s Next Eye on the Universe

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.  JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.

This talk will provide an overview of the science (what will the Webb be looking for), the telescope operation, the 2017 cryo-vac optical test, and plans for post-launch commissioning.

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RASC Regular Meeting, May 10, 2021

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The Dragonfly Telephoto Array

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday May 10, 2021

7:00 PM, Meet and Greet

7:30 PM, Meeting begins, including guest talk, News from Space, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC news.

FREE and open to the public.

Join this meeting using this Zoom link.

Guest Speaker:

Deborah Lokhorst

The Dragonfly Telephoto Array: New eyes to reveal the faintest and largest structures in the Universe

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RASC Regular Meeting, April 12, 2021

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Planets under construction: how to study a million year process

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday April 12, 2021

7:00 PM, Meet and Greet

7:30 PM, Meeting begins, including guest talk, News from Space, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC news.

FREE and open to the public.

Zoom link for this meeting

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Nienke van der Marel

Planets under construction: how to study a million year process

Planets around other stars, also called exoplanets, are seen everywhere! In the last 25 years, thousands of exoplanets have been found throughout the Milky Way. How do we find these planets? What are the chances of discovering life there? And if they are so common, why is it that we still don’t know how they are formed? With the ALMA telescope we can now finally zoom into the birth cradles of planets: dusty disks around young stars. The spectacular images have given us new insights, but also raised many more questions on the process of planet formation.

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The black hole in M87

RASC Regular Meeting, March 8, 2021

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Stellar Obituaries

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday March 8, 2021

7:00 PM, Meet and Greet

7:30 PM, Meeting begins, including guest talk, News from Space, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC news.

FREE and open to the public.

Meeting will be hosted on Zoom using this link .

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Sharon Morsink

Stellar Obituaries

 
Cas A Supernova Remnant

Cas A Supernova Remnant. Imaged by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Stars have long lifespans that range from millions of years to hundreds of billions of years. But eventually all stars run out of fuel and die. When stars die, they can leave behind a white dwarf star, a neutron star, a black hole, or nothing but a bit of hot gas!
There have been a lot of discoveries in the field of stellar death in the last couple of years. In this talk I’ll introduce the main ideas behind white dwarf stars, neutron stars, black holes, and supernovae. Some of the recent observations of black holes and neutron stars include the first image of “the black hole’s shadow”, the measurements of colliding black holes and neutron stars, and observations of X-rays from binary systems containing a stellar corpse. I will provide a report on the most interesting stellar obituaries from the last couple of years, and explain what they tell us about how stars die, and how they change when they begin their new life as a black hole or neutron star.

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SIGNALS Survey

RASC Regular Meeting, February 8, 2021

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From the Big-Bang to Life on Earth

RASC Regular Meeting

7:30 PM, Monday February 8, 2021

FREE and open to the public.

Meeting will be hosted on Zoom using this link.

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Laurie Rousseau-Nepton

From the Big-Bang to Life on Earth: A Story on the Birth of the Stars

 
The galaxy M33

The evolution of our Universe has been shaped by different eras since its early fast expansion, the Big-Bang. It has been a long way from a world with only light and elementary particles, to a world of galaxies, stars, atoms and molecules. In this presentation, we will travel through space and time and see how the stars have transformed the Universe, filling their surrounding with light, and allowing a wide variety of chemical elements to propagate in space. Billions of years of star-formation eventually led to the formation planetary system, just like ours, enabling life to emerge. 

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