September 2017 Monthly Meeting by Ed Mizzi
On Sept. 7, 2017, the Hamilton Centre met for its regular monthly meeting. Attendance was very good with about 30 people present, especially with it being our first meeting since June.
Gary Bennett began the proceedings with a welcome to everyone, especially new members and visitors. He reminded attendees about the October meeting and that our annual elections for board members will occur as well as several eclipse presentations.
Gary introduced Bob Prociuk, Board member, whose portfolio includes memberships. Bob discussed the benefits of being a member of both the Hamilton Centre and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He displayed a screen slide with the names of the newest members, including Peter Drumoulin, Erin Vassair, Lora Collins, Brian Kent, Coleen Stevens and marc Desruisseau. Welcome to the club!
Next, Gary introduced our guest speaker, Dr. Bryan Gaensler the Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto. Dr. 
Gaensler’s topic was “How the Cosmos will Kill You” and he gave a fascinating one hour talk about everything from Supernovae to Magnetars and discussed how vulnerable the Earth is to so many dangerous features of the universe. Of course, most of these dangers will occur millions of years from now, but the more research humans do, the more we discover other potential hazards lurking in the cosmos.
After the break, Gary once again reminded people of next month’s election and encouraged members to get involved.
Then Ed Mizzi discussed outreach and also encouraged members to participate in these fun and enjoyable activities with the public. As an example, he mentioned the August 21 eclipse outreach session that Bob Prociuk spear-headed and that it even made the Burlington Post newspaper.
After the meeting several people met at the Royal Coachman to continue the discussion over some refreshments.
Next meeting…October 5, 2017 at 8:00 PM. Royal Canadian Legion hall, Waterdown.
