Former Resident Reached for the Stars and Found a Planet
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Winterfest brought a dash of warmth in January! - page 10 February 2020 Vol. 05, No 2 www.ccranews.com CentennialA publication of the Centennial Community and Recreation News Association Traffic signals Former recommended on Lawrence resident Councillor Jennifer McKelvie has an exciting development to report re- garding the intersection of Lawrence reached for Ave East and Meadowvale Road. On February 5, Scarborough Community Council will review a city staff report that recommends the stars authorizing the installation of traffic lights at that intersection. It could be considered by City Council late in and found February depending on the decision made by the Scarborough Council. Although the technical warrants are not met, staff are recommend- a planet ing the installation due to other fac- tors, including road width, operating speeds, adjacent land uses (Wanita Park and Saint-Michel elementary school), the presence of transit stops, sight lines, and a distance of 1.7 km between the signalized crossings at Patrick led the team to conduct more research on By Kathy McGrath Bennett Rd. and Centennial Rd.. the exoplanet’s size and weight. While they haven’t been This installation will be consid- able to directly image the exoplanet due to the blind- ormer Centennial resident Patrick Dorval has ered in 2021, subject to availability ing light of the nearby star, other teams of international made a scientific discovery that is out of this of funding and competing priorities. astronomers have conducted independent observations world! Or more precisely, out of this solar sys- Councillor McKelvie is asking that confirm Patrick’s findings. tem. Last spring, the 26-year-old astronomer residents to submit a letter of support “It’s very exciting because we only know of a couple Fdiscovered a planet larger than Jupiter and about three for the installation of these traffic thousand planets, so each one brings some- times as heavy. signals. An email can be submitted thing new to the table,“ he said. “This one He made the discovery while work- “This one is sig- directly to [email protected] referenc- is significant because of its size, being 1.3 ing with a team of researchers at Leiden ing item #13.16. If you choose to nificant because times larger than Jupiter, and because it is University in the Netherlands where he is submit, please copy Ryan Pyne (ryan. really, really close to a star.” pursuing a PhD in astronomy. Using high- of its size, being [email protected]). tech instruments to scan the skies, Patrick Since the exoplanet’s surface tempera- detected a signal that indicated something 1.3 times larger ture is 2,500 degrees Celsius, it is unlikely had passed in front of a star located out- than Jupiter, and to sustain life. “If there is life, it’s unlike side our solar system. More specifically, he anything we know,” said Patrick. CCRA dance detected a dip in light, which suggested because it is really, Following a tradition to name planets something blocking the star. after the main instruments used to find a rite of spring “When we see a signal like that, it al- really close to a them, this one has two names: Mascara4b and bRing. most always turns out to be other stars or The CCRA Spring Dinner/Dance is star.” Later this month, Patrick will travel to asteroids or gas clouds,” Patrick explained coming up in March and everyone’s Chile where he’s secured time on a sensitive instrument on a recent trip home to visit family. “In this case, the invited! This is a really fun evening that will help him learn about the major elements of the dimming of light was happening again and again and that brings Centennial residents to- exoplanet’s atmosphere. Fortunately, Chile’s mountains again, which suggested an orbit.” gether eating, drinking and dancing. offer a great spot to do observations. Further investigation revealed the surprising discov- Our theme this year is Black and “The Earth’s atmosphere is messy with wind and ery of a large planet. More precisely, it’s an exoplanet White. We’re asking people to dress clouds, so it’s ideal to be as high up as possible,” he said. because it’s located outside our solar system (but still in either of those or both. We encour- within our galaxy). » continued on page 15 age you to be creative on this. Really, anything goes! The dance will take place on Sat- urday, March 28 at the West Rouge Community Centre. The price is $60 per person and tables of eight are available. There will be a cham- pagne reception and a buffet dinner along with a new DJ. For tickets, call Heather Lemieux at Royal Lepage 416-284-4751. 2 CCRA CENTENNIAL NEWS FEBRUARY 2020 Vol 05, No. 2 CCRA Centennial News CCRA Executive Team Publishing Policy Advertising Rates President – Kathy Rowe 416-283.9987 CCRA Centennial News invites submissions of articles, Size Per Issue Prepaid Treasurer – Zinta Erdmanis 416-724.6893 signed letters, art and photography from Centennial 10 issues Secretary – Laurie MacIsaac 416-287-0666 community members and all elected representatives. Business Card 50.00 475.00 We will consider all submissions for publication that are Membership – Denise Bacon 416-282.3561 Eighth 75.00 712.50 information-based and relevant to the community. Not- Quarter 125.00 1,187.50 Distribution – Wanda Wierzbicki 416-282.2951 for-profit and community groups are also invited to sub- Advertising – Kelsey Dorval 416-724.8693 mit event listings to be published free of charge, space Three-eights 185.00 1,757.50 Community Events – Heather Lemieux 416-284.4751 permitting. CCRA Centennial News reserves the right to Half Page (horizontal only) 220.00 2,090.00 Communications – Kathy McGrath 647-523.1637 decline material considered to be unpaid advertising, Half Page Inside Cover 250.00 2,375.00 Planning – Rob Elbertsen 416-282.2951 politically partisan or likely to offend. CCRA reserves Full Page 400.00 3,800.00 the right to edit all submitted material. The opinions Conservation – Karthi Yogasegaran 647-458.5287 Front Page Banner 200.00 N.A. expressed in CCRA Centennial News do not represent Inside Page Banner 100.00 950.00 Transportation – Mark Campbell the views of the CCRA Executive. All submissions will be Youth Representative – Varuhn Anandaraj considered for both print and online publication unless Members at Large – Jessica Dodd , otherwise instructed by the author. CCRA will notify all Notice to Advertisers Jeff Forsyth, Jake Forsyth, Lori Gagnon authors prior to publication. Advertising copy must reach the CCRA no later than the 10th day of the preceding month for publication. Newspaper and Web Team To be published in CCRA Centennial News, articles must Files should be in high resolution PDF, TIF, EPS or JPG reach the Communications team by the 15th day of format for best results. Please e-mail your advertise- Editor – Kathryn Stocks 416-738.4848 the preceding month. To submit an article or suggest a ment to Kelsey Dorval at [email protected]. story, please contact any member of the Executive by [email protected] Cheques in the correct amount are to be addressed phone, or by e-mail to [email protected]. to “CCRA” and deposited in the CCRA mailbox at 5450 Contributing Editor – Kathy McGrath 647-523.1637 Lawrence Ave. East, in the Port Union Recreation Design and Production – Don Lawrence Mailing address: Centre. lt is the advertiser’s responsibility to advise [email protected] Centennial Community & Recreation Association CCRA of any problems with an advertisement Advertising – Kelsey Dorval 416.724.8693 5450 Lawrence Ave. East, Scarborough ON M1C 3B2 before the 20th of the month in which the ad appears. For more about advertising, visit www.ccranews.com/advertising.html Celebrating Black History Month Black History Month has been cel- ebrated every February since 1995 when Toronto Area MP Jean Au- gustine introduced a motion in the House of Commons to recognize the month across Canada. It’s an oppor- tunity to celebrate the contributions that African Canadians make, wheth- er it’s in the present or the past. Here are a few events scheduled for this special month: 1. MP Gary Anandasangaree’s 5th Annual Black History Month Celebrations, Saturday, Feb. 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For details, see the ad on page 15. 2. The Toronto Public Library has a large number of events, including “The Wisdom of Rain” at Cedar- brae on Thursday, Feb. 13 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is required either at the branch or by calling 416-396-8850. There are also four events being held at Malvern Library on Feb. 7, 15, 18 and 20 that can be found at www. tpl.ca. 3. Celebrate Toronto’s local Black history, past and present, through the works of artists and storytell- ers at the Scarborough Museum, located in Thomson Park at Brim- ley Rd. and Lawrence. “The Story of Us: Sharing Black Toronto- nian Stories” will take place every weekend in February from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Pay what you can. For more details, call 416-338- 8807. www.ccranews.com Voice of the Community since 1949 3 President’s Message Winterfest team’s hard work created a fun-filled day By Kathy Rowe niors who helped out with various tasks during the event. Many hands ongratulations to the make light work! Please see more Winterfest team for about this special day in the centre such a successful event! spread of this issue! The team this year con- CCRA President Kathy Rowe greets Olaf and Elsa, characters from the movie Frozen, Csisted of Jake Forsyth, Jessica Dodd, Meeting of Area Presidents at Winterfest 2020 Linda Barlow, Rudy Kirpal, Rob On January 22, I had the plea- McMulkin, Rob and Jon Hinz, sure of meeting with the presidents Legion, information regarding the look forward to another meeting and myself.