The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and SkyNews are teaming up to co-host a new Speaker Series online. | SkyNews
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and SkyNews are teaming up to co-host a new Speaker Series online.

Speaker Series: Autumn 2021

Join The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and SkyNews for the Speaker Series lineup this autumn

Exoplanet hunting from home

A composite of Laurie Sibbald exoplanet hunting from home, by Kimberly Sibbald. | SkyNews

November 25, 2021
7 p.m. EST

Since confirmation of the first exoplanet detection in 1992, humans have found almost 5,000 exoplanets orbiting distant stars — and detecting them is possible with the same equipment as used in backyard astrophotography. 

Co-hosted by RASC outreach assistant Samantha Jewett and SkyNews editor-in-chief Allendria Brunjes, learn how Laurie Sibbald began collecting photometry data from suburbia indicating exoplanets. All the skills were developed by doing deep space imaging using some of the excellent software tools and equipment available to consumers. The data quality is high enough to contribute to exoplanet research databases that scientists are using to improve our understanding of worlds outside of our Solar System.

Mi’kmaw Moons

Cathy LeBlanc — who works on Mi'kmaw Moons with Dave Chapman — said her 13-year-old niece Holly is an important part of the project, opening their presentations with a reading. (Kristine Rose Photography) | Astronomy & space news | SkyNews

December 2, 2021
7 p.m. EST

For more than seven years, the Mi’kmaw Moons project has tied visual astronomy and Mi’kmaw storytelling together using the Two-Eyed Seeing approach, embracing both Indigenous and Western traditions in how we view the world.

Join Acadia First Nation member Cathy LeBlanc, her niece Holly and long-time RASC member Dave Chapman as they speak about the project as well as lunar cycles, stars and the Mi’kmaw stories and traditions tied to them. This event is co-hosted by RASC and SkyNews.

Read more about the Mi’kmaw Moons project here.