International ASTRONOMY DAY!!!

Come to the Planetarium to celebrate International Astronomy Day! The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vancouver Centre is hosting an all day event which will feature a variety of talks throughout the afteroon. Talks include: telescope basics, solar eclipses and observing; a feature called "Raven Tales", an entertaining presentation entitled "Are we the Pollution of Stellar Evolution?"; all about the night sky, Preserving our night sky and observatories around the world.

This is a free family event and there will be kids crafts, Star-Finders and telescopes on display. If the weather permits, we will have telescopes looking for sun spots (always remember to use a solar filter when looking at the sun!) and stars, nebulas and planets in the evening.

There will be free snacks, hot chocolate and coffee throughout the day.

Dr. Aksel Hallin of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory will be featured in a lecture in the evening at 7:00pm.

Parking is free.

Detailed Programme:

Throughout the day from noon - 5:00pm
Displays in the HTMSC Lobby, plus -
 KIDS Activities – make a star finder, decorate a telescope!
 Free COFFEE, CAKE and SNACKS
 BOOK Sale
 OBSERVING at the Gordon MacMillan Southam Observatory (weather permitting)

12:00 TELESCOPE WORKSHOP – Wayne Lyons/Bob Parry/Bruce MacDonald
- Learn the basics of telescopes and how to use them
- Bring your old or new scope and get a check up and usage tips!

1:00 SOLAR ECLIPSES & SOLAR OBSERVING Bill Ronald/Ron Jerome

2:00 RAVEN TALES (in the Auditorium) Simon James

3:00 ARE WE THE POLLUTION OF STELLAR EVOLUTION? James Black

4:00 ALL ABOUT THE NIGHT SKY- featuring Saturn! Bill Burnyeat

5:00 HELPING TO PRESERVE OUR NIGHT SKY Mark Eburne

**** DRAW***

6:00 OBSERVATORIES AROUND THE WORLD Craig Breckenridge

All talks to 6:00 pm are in the GMSO. Depending on demand, some talks may be repeated in the evening. Talks are approximately 30 minutes

7:00 KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. Aksel L. Hallin - The Stuff the Universe is Made Of:
from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Dark Matter, Neutrinos, and Astroparticle Physics

Event to be held in Auditorium (admission by donation to this event)

8:30 NIGHT OBSERVING (weather permitting) – see Saturn!
Enjoy the night sky through the GMSO Dome scope or one of the many RASC telescopes or join us with your own binoculars or telescope!