From comets and asteroids, to Jupiter and Saturn, our Solar System is an exciting and fascinating place. Join Dr. Rachel Friesen as she speaks about how the use of telescopes, satellites and rovers has revealed so much about our amazing Universe. This Toronto Public Library…

Continue reading →

Using the latest images from space telescopes such as Hubble, Spitzer, and Herschel, Dr. Michael Reid tells the story of how stars are born, live and die–a cycle that has been playing out for nearly 14 billion years. Stars form shrouded in clouds of gas and…

Continue reading →

The birth of stars is a complex and dynamic process, one that leads eventually to the formation of planets and possibly life. Yet we still know very little about the way in which the Universe turns a massive cloud of gas and dust into a…

Continue reading →

How common is life in the Universe? Is there intelligent life beyond the Solar System? These are some of the largest puzzles to understanding our place in the Universe. For over 50 years, astronomers have been conducting the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). These searches…

Continue reading →

There are many misconceptions about the Big Bang and the formation of the universe, as it is often portrayed in misleading ways. The Dunlap Institute’s Michael Reid addresses some of these issues and clears up some of the confusion. This Toronto Public Library Thought Exchange…

Continue reading →

The quest for ever-clearer views of the sky has driven astronomers to put telescopes in such remote places the centre of Antarctica. The Dunlap Institute’s Keith Vanderlinde talks about the 10m South Pole Telescope and the science that convinced him to undertake this nine-month “winter-over.”…

Continue reading →

Located high on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile, the 66 radio dishes of the ALMA observatory operate as one telescope, probing fundamental questions about our universe, from the formation of galaxies to planets. In this Toronto Public Library Thought Exchange talk, the Dunlap Institute’s Rachel…

Continue reading →

We live in an age of exciting discoveries about planets orbiting distant stars. But we should not forget the planets we see moving through our own sky. We are still making discoveries about the planets next door. Recently, we’ve discovered evidence for past fresh water…

Continue reading →

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson delivered a free public lecture on March 21, 2014, in Convocation Hall, University of Toronto. The talk was given in conjunction with Dr. Tyson receiving the inaugural Dunlap Prize. The Dunlap Prize was awarded to Dr. Tyson in recognition of his…

Continue reading →

Dark matter and dark energy make up about 95% of the content of the Universe. But what are they? And where are they?  And if they make up so much of the Universe, how did we miss them for so long? Explore these enigmatic components of our…

Continue reading →