Next tour:

Seasons Across the Universe

March 6, 2025
20:00 EST

Room 103, McLennan Physical Laboratories, 255 Huron Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Credit: Michael Poon

Talk Abstract

All aboard the AstroTour! We will be making our first stop at Uranus – the icy jewel of the Solar System! Seasons on Earth make February in Toronto quite frigid, but wait until we reach Uranus, where winters last 21 years, and up in their North pole, the Sun won’t rise for 42 years. During this interplanetary journey, we will explore how seasons are caused by planet tilts, and how planet tilts are caused by a wide range fascinating processes including violent collisions and long-term gravitational effects. Using the world’s largest telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, we will uncover seasons of distant, and possibly alien, worlds.

About the Speaker

About the Speaker

Speaker

Michael Poon (he/him)

Michael Poon (he/him) is a PhD student in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. His research explores the tilts and wobbles of distant planets – the same tilt that causes seasons on Earth. Only in this decade have these measurements been observationally possible for planets outside our Solar System, and they provide a new window into their evolutionary histories. In his free time, Michael enjoys aurora hunting and breakdancing – spinning on his head much like planets spinning on their axis.