The Peterborough Astronomical Association will hold its regular monthly meeting, which takes place on the first Friday of the month, on May 4th, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting location is the Rotary Education Centre/Guest Services Building, Riverview Park Zoo, Peterborough.

We are currently looking at a new program for beginners in astronomy. The classes are currently on hold at this time, but stay tuned for future updates as new opportunities may be made available to learn the sky and earn a certificate in the process.

Our presentation for May will start shortly after 7:00 p.m. and features a talk by Randy Attwood, Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), entitled “The Voyager Spacecraft at 40”. The two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 – over 40 years ago. Over a period of 12 years, they explored the four outer planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The discoveries changed our understanding of our solar system. This talk will look at the mission and the discoveries as well as some of the challenges Voyager engineers faced in taking late 1960's spacecraft technology - which lasted only a couple years in space - and extended the lifetime to the required 12 years to complete the mission - and beyond. Now the two spacecraft are leaving the solar system and providing information on the heliopause - the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space. Attwood has been active in education and public outreach since 1980. He produced and hosted a local astronomy cable television show in the 1980’s.  He has appeared on local and national radio and television since 1981 to comment on various aspects of astronomical discoveries and space exploration – both manned and unmanned.  Attwood has been fascinated with astronomy and space exploration since the days of the Apollo missions. He is interested in astrophotography, he travels the world to witness total solar eclipses and when it was flying, he witnessed twelve space shuttle launches. In 2012, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) renamed asteroid #260235 “Attwood” in his honour. Don’t miss an opportunity to learn about one of astronomy’s greatest and most successful spacecraft of all time, Voyager.

Following the main presentation(s) we will look at the “Sky This Month”. Be informed about the locations of the planets of the solar system. There will also be the usual opportunities to come and check out the PAA and all it has to offer, at no cost. This is an all ages meeting and  the venue is barrier free. Also, you don’t need a telescope to belong, but a curious mind helps.