TORONTO, ON – On June 5th, 2012, the world will be watching as the planet Venus passes in front of the Sun. This phenomenon, called a transit of Venus, has not happened since 2004 and will not happen again until 2117. For virtually every human alive today, June 5th will be the last chance to see this fascinating celestial event. And in Toronto, the place to watch the transit will be the University of Toronto’s Varsity Centre.
A special transit-viewing event at Varsity Centre will provide visitors with every possible way of viewing and learning about this spectacle. The transit begins at 6:04pm and continues to sunset, and the stadium grandstand will afford a perfect view. Visitors can watch using free transit-viewing glasses and through a variety of solar telescopes that will be set up on site—including a 200-year-old instrument from the U of T’s Scientific Instruments Collection. Live video feeds will show the transit from locations around the world.
Also, U of T astronomers will be on hand to answer questions like, “Why did explorers travel to far-flung destinations to view transits in the 1700s?” “How are transits helping us find planets around other stars?” And, “How can observing the moon during the transit, with the Hubble Space Telescope, help us in our search for life beyond Earth?”
Plus, visitors can attend special-ticketed planetarium shows in Varsity Arena, a free astronomy public lecture, as well as special live performances of Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter’s “The Transit of Venus.”
The event is organized by the university’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, in collaboration with the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, the Department of Alumni Relations, and the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology.
Varsity Centre gates open at 5:30pm. Varsity Centre is located on the south side of Bloor Street, one block east of St. George Street and a half-block west of the ROM. Visitors will enter through the Bloor Street entrance of the stadium. The venue is steps away from the St. George and Museum subway stations.
Beyond their public appeal, transits are also important scientifically because they relate to one of the most exciting fields of investigation in astronomy today: the search for planets around other stars. Astronomers find these so-called exoplanets by detecting transits of distant stars. When an exoplanet crosses the face of a star, astronomers detect the slight, periodic dip in the brightness of the star, revealing the presence of the distant planet. The University of Toronto is home to many planet hunters who use transits and other means to find distant worlds.
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For more information about the Varsity Centre event and the transit, and to book a ticketed event, visit: http://universe.utoronto.ca/special/transit2012
Or contact:
Mike Reid
Director of Education and Outreach
Dunlap Institute
mike.reid@utoronto.ca
416-978-0307
For more information about the Dunlap Institute contact:
Chris Sasaki
Communications and New Media Specialist
csasaki@di.utoronto.ca
416-978-6613
About the U of T’s Dunlap Institute: The Dunlap Institute was established in May 2008 at the University of Toronto, creating a dynamic centre for astronomical research along with the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. The Dunlap Institute continues the legacy of the David Dunlap Observatory of developing innovative observational techniques, instruments, telescopes and observatories—including an Arctic observatory on Ellesmere Island, and instrumentation for the largest telescopes in the world. The research of its faculty and fellows spans the depths of the Universe, from the discovery of planets around nearby stars, to black holes, dark matter, and the study of galaxies at the beginning of time. The institute also continues a strong commitment to developing the next generation of astronomers through education programs, and fostering public engagement in science through a wealth of outreach activities.
About the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics: The DAA is engaged in a wide range of observational and theoretical research on solar system dynamics, stars, stellar systems, the interstellar medium, the Milky Way Galaxy, galaxies, quasars, clusters of galaxies, cosmology and problems in general relativity. The department has close ties with the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, and the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, located in the same building.
