Open Houses 2024

We are delighted to announce the return of our monthly Open Houses this term, Winter 2024. The Open Houses will take place at 7:00 pm on the last Wednesday of every month, with the exception of December.  The Open Houses will take place in University College, room 394. Open Houses last approximately one hour.

The family-friendly Open Houses will consist of a guided tour of the stars and constellations projected onto the dome, as would be visible from Winnipeg  on that night. Presentation topics will vary from month to month but may include constellations and mythologies, news in astronomy research, and research that is being done here in Winnipeg. All talks are geared at an introductory level – no previous astronomy knowledge required. Questions are encouraged!

Admission is free but space is limited, so reserving a spot with a ticket is recommended. Please plan to arrive at least 5 minutes early. Once the show begins, it can be very dark in the planetarium and finding a seat can be a challenge.

The easiest place to park is Parking Lot B. The planetarium is up one flight of stairs from the ground floor and is across from the Classics Department. Parking on campus is free after 4:30pm: https://umanitoba.ca/sites/default/files/2020-05/Parking_Map.pdf

Fall Term 2024 Open Houses: 

Tickets are available through the Faculty of Science event calendar. Please follow the links for more information on  each open house. 

September 25th, 2024 – Dr. Danielle Pahud – Comets : New and Very Old

Come learn about comets, what they are, where they come from, and why astronomers want to know more about them. We’ll discuss their importance in the history of the solar system and life on Earth. We’ll revisit some famous comets, with short and long periods. Finally, we’ll discuss the best chance at a bright comet this fall: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.

October 30th, 2024 – Dr Danielle Pahud – The Sun & Space Weather

The Sun has been very active this past month, regaling people at many latitudes with beautiful displays of Aurora Borealis. These auroral displays begin at the sun. Come learn about the Sun, solar activity, solar storms, and what exactly space weather is. 

November 27th, 2024 – – 

Tickets available here.

Spring & Summer Term 2024 Open Houses:

Tickets are available through the Faculty of Science event calendar. Please follow the links for more information on  each open house. 

May 29th, 2024 – Spencer Molloy – Sputnik to Spacex: the Evolution of Space Exploration

Come explore the history of spaceflight from the derivation of the rocket equation, the first human in space, moon missions, modern rockets and beyond!

 June 26th, 2024 – Andrew Rogers – Under the Simulated Stars : The History of Planetaria 

 Join us in celebrating the centennial year of the Planetarium! We will be sharing, for the first time in Winnipeg, the ‘100 Years to Eternity’ film by the International Planetarium Society, which describes the origins and the evolution of planetarium technology. After the film, time allowing, there will be a tour of the local summer sky and constellations.

July 31st, 2024 – Andrew Rogers – Cosmology and Dark Matter

August 28th, 2024 – Andrew Rogers – TBD

Tickets available here.

Winter 2024 Open Houses:  Dates, Presenter, and Topics

Tickets are available through the Faculty of Science event calendar. Please follow the links for more information on  each open house. 

January 31st, 2024 – Andrew Rogers – Cosmic History 

February 28th, 2024 – Dr. Jayanne English, CM – The Metamorphosis of Galaxies

“Why don’t galaxies have millions of different shapes? Come learn about the forces that cause these collections of  stars plus their planets, gas, and dark matter to form and grow with time, creating the limited number of shapes we observe.” 

 

March 27th, 2024– Neil Doerksen  – Gravitational Waves & LIGO

April 24th, 2024 – Isabel Sander – Pulsar Wind Nebulae: An Intro to the Universe’s Particle Accelerators

When a massive star dies and “goes supernova,” the explosion can leave behind some of the most exotic objects in our universe. From neutron stars to black holes to supernova remnants, astronomers have learned from these sources for decades. More recently, Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe) have attracted the attention of astrophysicists as potential cosmic particle accelerators. PWNe could help solve the century-long question about the origin of  high-energy particles detected on Earth (known as Cosmic Rays).

Tickets Here

Peruse some of the our Past Open Houses

Fall 2023 Open Houses : Dates, Presenter, and Topics

September 27th, 2023 – Dr. Danielle Pahud – Noctalgia : The Stars and Light Pollution

October 25th, 2023 – Dr. Danielle Pahud – 100 Years of Planetaria

November 29th, 2023 – Dr. Tyrone Woods – CASTOR: A Canadian Flagship Mission

Open Houses during COVID-19

The University is currently closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which will unfortunately suspend our monthly Open Houses for the time being as well as our much anticipated opening of the newly renovated and updated planetarium.  While we are sad to not be able to welcome guests at this time, we encourage everyone to adhere to PHAC guidelines and to stay home.

Spitz, Inc. has generously formatted some Full-Dome content to be viewable on a computer monitor and we are happy to be sharing it here.  We’ll be posting a new video about every week. These videos are for your personal enjoyment and are not to copied ( there is a copyright statement that scrolls through every few minutes), though sharing the link below is welcome.

April 6th, 2020 – The Zula Patrol : Under The Weather

This video is for our youngest audiences.  Come learn about weather on Earth and on other planets in our solar system with the Zula Patrol.

https://www.spitzcreativemedia.com/c-zula-utw-university-of-manitoba/

April 13th, 2020 – Faster Than Light

An all ages show about human exploration around the globe, in our solar system, and beyond.

https://www.spitzcreativemedia.com/c-faster-than-light-university-of-manitoba/

April 20th, 2020 – Dinosaurs at Dusk

https://www.spitzcreativemedia.com/c-dinosaurs-at-dusk-university-of-manitoba/

April 27th, 2020 – Solar Superstorms

An all ages show about the our Sun and the phenomena that give rise to space weather here on Earth.

https://www.spitzcreativemedia.com/c-solar-superstorms-university-of-manitoba/

Spring 2020 Open Houses

The Lockhart Planetarium Open Houses will continue through the fall.  The Open Houses will take place at 7:00 pm on the last Wednesday of every month, with the exception of December.  The Open Houses will take place in University College, room 240.  Weather permitting, a guided visit to the Ewen Campus Observatory will be offered. In the case of clear skies, visitors are encouraged to stay for some astronomical observing.

January 29th, 2020  –  7:00 pm  –  240 University College  –  Dr. Renée Desjardins – Diversity in Citizen Science : What’s Lost in Translation?

February 26th, 2020  –  7:00 pm  –  240 University College  – CANCELLED

March 25 th, 2020  –  7:00 pm  –  240 University College  -CANCELLED due to COVID- 19

April 29 th, 2020  –  7:00 pm  –  240 University College  – CANCELLED due to COVID- 19

Fall 2019 Open Houses

Winter 2019 Open Houses

The Astronomy Open Houses will resume January 2019 and continue throughout the winter and spring.  The Open Houses will be help at 7:00 pm on the last Wednesday of each month from January to April, inclusive. Please note that due to the planetarium itself being under renovation and large crowd sizes, we will be hosting the Open Houses in Room 240 of University College. Details below:

January 30 th – 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240    – –  From Fuzzy Clouds to Island Universes: The history of extragalactic astronomy

February 27 th – 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240    – –  The Galactic Ladder: How astronomers determine distances

March 27 th- 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240   – – Space Mission Fails

April 24 th- 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240   – – TBD

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fall 2018 Open Houses

The Astronomy Open Houses will continue throughout the fall.  The Open Houses will be help at 7:00 pm on the last Wednesday of each month from September from November, inclusive. Please note that due to the planetarium itself being under renovation and large crowd sizes, we will be hosting the Open Houses in Room 240 of University College. Details below:

September 26 th – 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240    – –  Solar System Formation

October 31 st – 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240    – –  The Dark Universe

November 28 th- 7:00 pm – University College, Room 240   – – TBD

We will not have an Open House in December. Open Houses will resume in January.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer 2018 Schedule:

The Astronomy Open Houses will continue throughout the summer.  Since the sunset occurs prohibitively late, the Open Houses will be held at 7:00 pm each month until September. Details below:

May 30th – 7:00 pm – Room 240  University College   – – Compact Objects

June 27th- 7:00 pm – Room 240 University College   – –  The Sun

July 25th- 7:00 pm – Room 240 University College   – – TBD

August 29th – 7:00 pm – Room 240 University College   – – TBD

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first in a new series of Astronomy Open Houses will take place on Wednesday, January 31st at 6:30 pm.  Since the planetarium is still under construction, there will be a presentation by an astronomer in University College room 385.  Weather permitting, we will then observe on the roof.

Topic for January 31st, 2018: Cassini – A Retrospective

Monthly open houses at the Ewen Campus Observatory and the Lockhart Planetarium in University College at the Fort Garry Campus of the University of Manitoba occur on the last Wednesday of the month beginning at sunset – rain or shine! This event is hosted jointly by the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Winnipeg Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

The Lockhart Planetarium is located in Room 394 University College and the Ewen Campus Observatory is on the roof (access via the north stairwell of the lecture wing) (See an online interactive map or pdf version.) Free evening parking is available on the South side of the building (Parking Lot B).

There will be a brief introduction in the planetarium to the night sky in season (What’s Up?) followed by viewing through the telescopes, weather permitting. Should the weather be unfavourable then there will be another planetarium presentation of astronomy in the news (What’s New?).

The open house will last for approximately two hours.

The Planetarium is wheelchair accessible. The campus observatory is not wheelchair accessible at the present time.