UVic Presentation: The McKellar Telescope:  Discovering Worlds Beyond our Sun – Allen Keefe

1943 72-inch mirror with Pearce, unknown & McKellar and 1.2m telescope with the McKellar spectrograph

Date/Time: Wednesday January 14, 2026 starting at 7:30PM Location: University of Victoria, Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104

You may be familiar with the 1.8m Plaskett telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO), but it is not the only noteworthy telescope on the hill. Located just across the road from the visitor’s centre, the 1.2m telescope and McKellar spectrograph has a vibrant history as well. Its namesake, Andrew McKellar, did lots of important work with spectroscopy at the DAO and designed the telescope’s coudé spectrograph. It saw first light in 1962 and has been in use for active research ever since. This talk will dive into Andrew McKellar’s research, his design of the coudé spectrograph, how spectroscopy works, and the role it has played in past and present astronomy research.

Astronomy Cafe – Dec 8, 2025

The upgraded 16" Centre of the Universe (CU) Boller & Chivens telescope

Intro & new attendees – Lauri Roche; Upcoming Astronomy Cafes – Randy Enkin; Astrophotography and 16″ CU telescope upgrades – Brock Johnston; Geminid Meteor Shower in 2014 – Reg Dunkley; The Week That Shaped Astronomy in Victoria – Dennis Crabtree;  Newcombe Singers Concert – Randy Enkin;  Mizar (and friends) – binary stars – Randy Enkin

UVic Presentation: Observing the Cold Universe with ALMA – Dr. Gerald Schieven

ALMA array under a night sky

Date/Time: Wednesday December 10, 2025 starting at 7:30PM Location: University of Victoria, Elliott 162. Park in Lot 1 (pay parking) and cross Ring Road – please note the room change!

Much of the universe is very cold, more than 100 degrees below zero Celsius, and cannot be seen by even giant optical or infrared telescopes like Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope. Instead, we need specially designed telescopes that can detect the cold universe. In this talk we’ll learn about how we can detect cold matter, Canada’s pioneering work in this field, and finally the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimetre Array (ALMA), a giant telescope in northern Chile, what it’s like to work there, and some of the really cool stuff it’s discovered.

Astronomy Cafe – Nov 17, 2025

Magnetic fields in star-forming regions - "The Wrench" in NGC 2244

Intro – Reg Dunkley; RASC Windsor Centre’s 80th Anniversary Banquet – Peter Jedicke; Jack Newton deceased – Reg Dunkley & David Lee; Newcombe Singers Concert and Glass Orchestra – Reg Dunkley & Marjie Welchframe; Astronomy Cafe Buy and Sell on Nov 24th – Items For Sale; Halley Research Station in Antarctica – Natasha van Bentum; Aurora from Saskatchewan – Ben Spiller; Space Missions – Chris Gainor; Thoughts on Electromagnetism Present and Past – Reg Dunkley; Events and Publication Sales – Lauri Roche

Astronomy Cafe – Nov 3, 2025

An observatory and the night sky from eastern Australia

Alex Schmid and Joe Carr honoured with minor planet naming; Introductions from new attendees; Newcombe Singers Concert: Sunrise Mass – Kathryn Whitney, Music Director; Events – David Lee, Randy Enkin, Kevin Bertles; Travels In Australia – Chris Gainor; Events – Jeff Pivnick, Randy Enkin, David Lee; Supernovae and stellar nurseries – Dave Payne; A Victory Story from Vince Geisler