RASC Toronto | Astronomy and space events, observing the night sky from Toronto, GTA and Southern Ontario

western sky late April showing fleeting Mercury

The Sky This Month Apr-May 2021

Mercury is at its best for 2021 in late April, early May. Jupiter and Saturn are in the pre-dawn morning sky. For Apr-May 2021, we'll follow the meridian from south to north for an excellent sampler of deep sky objects.

DDO: Out of this World Spring Break! (ONLINE)

Monday, April 12, 2021 - 11:00am to 1:00pm

Join our astronomers from the comfort of your home with our family friendly Spring Break virtual programming! Take a virtual tour of the DDO and the night sky. Find out what’s up in the night sky tonight and make your own Star Finder.

Plateau Astro/CanadaMoon: Yuri's Night Canada (ONLINE)

Monday, April 12, 2021 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm

On the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first orbit around Earth, tune in for a fun, live interview showcase of Canadian space experts.

RASC National Society: The Insider's Guide to the Galaxy - Library Episode! (ONLINE)

Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm

Join us online to learn basic astronomy that you can do on your own from your backyard!

DDO: Out of this World Spring Break! (ONLINE)

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Join our astronomers from the comfort of your home with our family friendly Spring Break virtual programming! Take a virtual tour of the DDO and the night sky. Find out what’s up in the night sky tonight and make your own Star Finder.

RASC National Society: The Moon At Noon - Q-4 and Q-3 (ONLINE)

Thursday, April 15, 2021 - 12:00pm to 12:30pm

We have lots of cool-looking craters on our target lists today, so we'll be going over how to identify crater features.

DDO: Out of this World Spring Break! (ONLINE)

Friday, April 16, 2021 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Join our astronomers from the comfort of your home with our family friendly Spring Break virtual programming! Take a virtual tour of the DDO and the night sky. Find out what’s up in the night sky tonight and make your own Star Finder.

Speaker's Night: A Cosmic Trek with Tim Russ (ONLINE)

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 7:30pm to 8:30pm

Join RASCTO on Wednesday April 21st at 7:30pm EDT for a conversation with actor, director, musician and amateur astronomer Tim Russ about his astronomy experience, stars, and favorite telescopes.

RASC, Mississauga Centre: Skylab: An Overview (ONLINE)

Friday, April 23, 2021 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm

Speaker: Emily Carney

Recreational Astronomy Night (ONLINE)

Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - 7:30pm to 9:30pm

Join us for our monthly recreational astronomy night meeting. This is where our members get to show their latest projects or give tutorials and tips on just about everything to do with astronomy.

RASC National Society: Robotic Telescope for Classrooms

Introducing the RASC’s newest outreach program, Robotic Telescope for Classrooms! This brand new program gives students and teachers the opportunity to work with real exoplanet transit data collected by the RASC’s robotic telescope.

York University Allan I. Carswell Observatory (ONLINE)

Join the Allan I. Carswell Observatory for weekly Online Public Viewing, York Universe and TeleTube

Stellarium Training Series

For RASC members, we offer computer software training on Stellarium. It is a popular and powerful planetarium application available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. The full software for computers is free.

Tips for New Telescope Owners

This article was prepared for people attending the telescope clinic, organised by the RASC, Toronto Centre. But it contains information useful for any new or novice telescope user.

RASC National Society Videos: The Moon At Noon

We're back with our next online observing program! This time we'll be bringing you the Explore the Moon Observing Program. Anyone can join as we dive into craters and climb mountain ranges on our nearest neighbour.

Recreational Astronomy Night (ONLINE)

Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - 7:30pm to 9:30pm

Watch the recorded video: https://youtu.be/U1y0naf9qEQ

RASC National Society Videos: Speaker Series

Join us for one of our talks!

Speakers from across the country will be joining us to share their areas of astronomical expertise. Check back here regularly to see who will be speaking next.

RASC National Society Videos: The Insider's Guide to the Galaxy

Join us online to learn basic astronomy that you can do on your own from your backyard! We'll be hosting introductory astronomy courses on Tuesdays from 3:30-5:00pm EDT.

Speaker's Night: Indigenous astronomies, stories of the sky and Indigenizing the Drake Equation (ONLINE)

Wednesday, February 17, 2021 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm

Watch the recorded video: https://youtu.be/jxmUlRFSPlU

RASC National Society Video: Astronomy Today, Framing the Future

Dark matter. Humans on the Moon. Black holes and exoplanets. They’re hot topics in the news, and it just so happens women are discussing them.

Video: Do it Yourself Asteroid Astrometry using Python with Arushi and Artash Nath

Ever felt frustrated when trying to use your astronomy skills to find an asteroid in the night sky? Well, Arushi and Artash Nath have come to your rescue with their DIY Asteroid Astrometry using Python.

Video: Weather Forecasting for the Amateur Astronomer with Blake Nancarrow

If you love to practise your astronomy skills, you will also need to practise your weather predicting skills. Blake Nancarrow shows us how with various weather apps and weather related websites.

clouds in the west - no astronomy tonight

Weather Resources

This article complements a presentation delivered by Blake Nancarrow on 3 February 2021.

Video: Football and Astronomy - The Making of the Giant Magellan Telescope Mirrors

Ever wondered where the Giant Magellan Telescope mirrors are built? Would you believe that it has a connection to football?

Video: Artemis: A Thin Meniscus Mirror Telescope

After Tom Otvos gave a successful presentation on April 25, 2018 (see link below) regarding his progress on the construction of his thin meniscus mirror telescope, he returned to our online Recreational Astronomy Night meeting of January 6, 2021.