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Sesquicentennial! Sesquicentennial! Canada's Amazing Astronomy/Space Achievements 1867-2017 ----- John Percy Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and OISE/UT University of Toronto My History with Schools and STAO ● Faculty of Ed (1963-4) ● Bloor CI (1964-5) ● Member of STAO (1971-) ● Consulting with the Ministry, textbook publishers, STAO projects, giving workshops etc. (1971-) ● STAO Honorary President (1988-91) ● STAO Service Award (1991) ● STAO Jack Bell Award (1999) Why Teach/Learn Astronomy/Science? Awareness of science Interest in science Understanding of science Appreciation of science Engagement in science Attitude to science Skills in science Science in culture Major Grade Nine Expectation “Students will … identify scientists, including Canadians, who have made contributions to (astronomy/space).” Specifically: “Assess, on the basis of research, and report on the contributions of Canadian governments, organizations, businesses, and/or individuals...” [also grade six 1.1, SES4U: A2.2, B1] ----- STSE: Connects with history, economics, politics ----- This becomes a typical assignment/assessment: research and report, using all relevant scientific skills, on these contributions, and why they are significant Practical Astronomy/Space Practical astronomy: “describe various reasons that humankind has had for studying (astronomy/space)...” 5 In the beginning ..... sky motions provided a clock, calendar, and compass for both pre-technological and technological societies. Students can make these observations! Spacebanter.com 6 Aboriginal Astronomy First Nations people used the sky as a clock, calendar, and compass, and incorporated the sky into their culture and spirituality, as they still do Cheryl Bartlett, co-developer of Integrative Science 7 Practical Astronomy: to 1850 “by the Mother Country, for the Mother Country” In locations across the country, simple instruments were used for... ● Navigation ● Surveying ● Timekeeping ● Meteorology ● Earth magnetism ● Left: Toronto's local standard for latitude, longitude, and elevation University of Toronto 8 The Toronto Meteorological and Magnetic Observatory (1853) A significant historical building: Canada evolves from scattered colonies to a new country ● To replace a British Admiralty facility, the colonial government decides that it should have a “Canadian” facility for magnetic, timekeeping, University of Toronto surveying, meteorology etc. 9 Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) ● Surveyor, engineer, businessman, entrepreneur, inventor, university chancellor ● Designed Canada's first stamp, co-founded Royal Canadian Institute and Royal Society of Canada ● Promoted trans-Canada railway and Standard Time 10 Fleming and Standard Time Fleming, a railwayman, recognized the need for Standard Time, and successfully promoted it. [Interesting STSE debate: should we scrap DST? 11 Rex Woods Our Founders 12 The Co-Fathers of Canadian Astronomy Canadians Clarence Chant (1865-1956, left) was “father” of university astronomy; John Plaskett (1865-1941) was “father” of government astronomy research 13 Observatories “People use observational evidence of the properties of the solar system and the universe...” 16 1935: Canada Has Two of the Three Largest Telescopes in the World! Left: Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, for government research; Right: David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, for university research and education 17 Post-World War II Servicemen/women return to universities Wartime technologies available for peacetime --- radio → radar --- aerospace --- computing --- geophysics Scientists/engineers who understand them 18 Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory near Penticton BC ● Opened 1960; houses three radio telescopes ● Important studies of the gas in our Milky Way galaxy ● Engineering labs for National Research Council Canada international facilities, thanks to Canadian expertise 20 Algonquin Radio Observatory ● Opened 1959; includes a 46m (diameter) dish, a solar radio flux monitor ● Dish did important astronomical work 1966-1987 ● Now used for geodesy and GPS; pulsar research 21 Astro-canada.ca The Invention of VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry The ARO and DRAO dishes were “virtually” connected, with atomic clocks and high-speed magnetic tapes, to produce a radio telescope 2000 km across 22 National Research Council Canada Astro-canada.ca Interstellar Molecules ARO was used to detect and measure complex molecules between the stars, working with Canadian Nobel Laureate Gerhard Herzberg, showing that complex (prebiological?) molecules form easily and naturally. Astronomy! Chemistry! Biology! 23 Astro-canada.ca National Research Council Canada The Atacama Large Millimetre Array By virtue of its expertise, Canada is now a partner in the finest radio telescope in the world 24 ALMA Observatory The 20th Century --- Optical* Astronomy Transformed --- Observatories move from within cities (TMMO), to just outside cities (DAO, DDO), to further from cities (Palomar), to near-perfect sites such as Mauna Kea (Hawaii) and the High Atacama Desert (Chile) *visible-light 25 But at the Dunlap Observatory Tom Bolton, a specialist in stars, began to study an X-ray emitting star, especially its motion towards and away from the observer 26 Tom Bolton University of Toronto The First Black Hole ● The star was orbiting a massive unseen object every 6 days – the X-rayy emitter ● The unseen object was a long-theorized black hole – an object whose NASA gravity was so strong that nothing could escape, not even light 27 Supernova 1987A Discovered by Ian Shelton at the University of Toronto's small Southern Observatory, Feb. 23, 1987; brightest supernova in 400 years 28 YorkRegion.com Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope ● Came about, in part, because of political good-luck and cooperation ● The finest telescope (and site) of its 4m class ● World-leading instruments, detectors, and research 29 CFHT Corporation Exoplanets Canadians developed the first indirect way of detecting planets around other stars & are leaders in imaging them Exoplanets.org National Research Council Canada 30 TMT: A Societal Issue Canada is a partner in a plan to build a 30-m telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, a sacred site for the indigenous Hawaiians. Assignment: debate the pro's, con's, and suggest a compromise 31 TMT Corporation Canada in Space “Space exploration has generated valuable knowledge ….. 32 Alouette I – 1962 A “topside sounder” to study the ionosphere; Canada was the third country (after the USSR and USA) to build and operate a satellite in space 33 Government of Canada Canadarm and then Dextre 34 Our Most Famous Astronaut Illustrating the value of scientists and engineers communicating with the public 35 NASA The James Webb Space Telescope Canada is a partner in the successor to Hubble (to launch in 2018, behind schedule, over budget) Debate: is it worth it? 36 NASA Canada in Space “Space exploration has generated valuable knowledge, but at enormous cost”. Is this always true? 37 Professional (and amateur) study of the aurora, and of “space weather” 38 Terence Dickinson Professional (and amateur) study of meteors. Before the Space Age, this was an effective way to study Earth's upper atmosphere. 39 NASA Pelted by Space Dust ● Peter Millman (back right) organized a world-leading study of meteors in Ottawa – some of it by keen amateurs ● There were also cameras, and spectrographs to study the composition of the space dust, and the atmosphere National Research Council Canada 40 Pelted by Space Rocks ● Canada has expertise in meteorites (we have a lot of area for them to fall on!) especially rare ones ● ROM has an especially good collection of carbonaceous chondrites – primitive material with naturally-occuring organic molecules 41 Pelted by Giant Space Rocks ● 1950: prospector Fred Chubb finds this strange lake ● Royal Ontario Museum sends out an expedition, then National Geographic, leading to a national program led by C.S. Beals ● It's a meteorite impact crater, with major implications for extinctions ● Other Canadian craters have been used as Moon and Mars analogues by astronauts 42 Canada and the Apollo Project Apollo 13: how to separate the LEM from the stricken service module Phil Sullivan, Rod Tennyson, Irving Glass, Barry French, Ben Etkin University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies 43 University of Toronto Mississauga “Lunar labule” where the magnetic properties of moon rocks were studied 44 UTM Micro- and Nano-Satellites Canada's inexpensive “suitcase satellite” and “shoebox satellites” have exceeded expectations; left: MOST; right: one of five BRITEs 45 Canada in Near-Space ● Balloons carry microwave telescopes above 99% of Earth's atmosphere.. ● .. to map radiation from the birth of the universe.. ● … and from dust in the Milky Way galaxy Blastexperiment.info 47 Theoretical Astrophysics People use observational evidence of the properties of the solar system and the universe to develop theories to explain their formation and evolution”. 48 Theory and Computation ● For multiple purposes: simulations, now: “big data”: datasets so massive that it needs new computing hardware and software: “machine learning” University of Toronto 1952 49 Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics ● National research institute, hosted by U of Toronto ● Funded by U of Toronto, NSERC*, & Canadian Institute for Advanced Research ● World-class, cost effective, Richard Bond OC FRS under-appreciated Gruber Cosmology Prize 50 CITA Director 1996-2006 *NSERC = Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Vital Statistics
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