Annual General Meeting, October 14th 2016
“Exploring the ghostly side of galaxies with Dragonfly” with Dr. Roberto Abraham, University of Toronto professor, Dept of Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bigger telescopes are usually better telescopes…. but not always. In this talk I will explore the ghostly world of large low surface brightness structures, such as galactic stellar halos, low-surface brightness dwarf galaxies, and other exotica such as supernova light echoes. These objects are nearly undetectable with conventional telescopes, but their properties may hold the key to understanding how galaxies assemble. I will describe why finding these objects is important, and why it is so devilishly difficult.
I will also describe a bizarre new telescope (the Toronto/Yale/Harvard Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a.k.a. Dragonfly) which is now being used to explore the low surface brightness universe and is testing some of the most fundamental predictions of galaxy formation models. Dragonfly is comprised of 48 commercial 400 mm f/2.8 telephoto lenses which utilize novel nanostructure-based optical coatings that minimize scattered light and ghosting. I’ll showcase some our early results, mainly focusing on the properties of ultra-faint stellar halos. I’ll also report the discovery of gigantic stellar disks underlying nearby galaxies, and will describe the discovery of a new class of ghostlike galaxies that are as big as the Milky Way but have about 1/1000 of its mass.
Roberto Abraham
Roberto Abraham is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. He obtained his BSc from UBC and his doctorate from Oxford. His work is focused on observations of galaxy formation and evolution and the development of innovative instruments. He has been awarded the Canadian Astronomical Society’s P. G. Martin Award, the Canada Foundation for Innovation Career Award, the NSERC Steacie Fellowship, a Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the University of Toronto Outstanding Teaching Award, and a bunch of other things, including recently becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (the country’s National Academy), thus making him officially over the hill.
His proudest moment is winning second prize in the Vancouver All-City Elementary School Grade 6 spelling bee, where he lost out for not knowing how to spell the word “satellite”, leading eventually to learning the meaning of the the word “ironic”. He’s presently President of the Canadian Astronomical Society. Being keen on outreach, he has served as Honourary President of the Toronto Centre of the RASC for many years. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Gemini Observatory, on the Science Advisory Committee for the Thirty Meter Telescope, has advised NASA by serving as panel chair on the Hubble Space Telescope time allocation committee three times, and is currently serving as Canada’s representative on the James Webb Space Telescope Advisory Committee.
Annual General Meeting and Council Vote
As per the H.A.A. bylaws, you, as an active H.A.A. member, are eligible to stand for a position on the H.A.A. council if you wish to nominate yourself. Or, you may nominate a fellow member. Or, if you wish to be a Councillor At Large, please speak to a current member of Council. All uncontested Council positions shall be acclaimed.
The H.A.A. Council for the 2016/2017 membership year shall be elected.
The proposed slate of H.A.A. Council for the 2016/2017 membership year is as follows:
- Chair, Bernie Venasse
- Second Chair, Mike Jefferson
- Treasurer, Ann Tekatch (proposed changes)
- Webmaster, David T.
- Membership Director, Leslie Webb
- Observing Director, Steve Germann (proposed changes)
- Education Director, John Gauvreau
- Event Horizon Editor, Bob Christmas
- Recorder, Matthew Mannering (proposed changes)
- Secretary, Jim Wamsley
- Publicity Director, Mario Carr
Place and Time
We’ll be meeting at The Hamilton Spectator Building located at 44 Frid St, near the junction of Highway 403 and Main St West in Hamilton. Starting time is at 7:30pm. Admission is free and everyone is welcome!
Door Prizes
There will be a draw for door prizes at the meeting and a free door prize ticket to all who arrive before the 7:30 start time!
Food Share Donations
Donations of non-perishable food for the Hamilton Food Share program will be collected at this meeting. Please drop off any items at the drop-box located near the entrance of the auditorium. All donations gratefully accepted and thanks to your generosity we’ve collected thousands of pounds of food since we began. Let’s keep up the great work as the need continues.
