Toronto Reference Library Blog

Curious about Mars?

 

 

As the rover Curiosity rambles over Mars looking for signs of life, you might be interested in some background information about the planet and previous exploratory missions.

 

Olivier de Goursac is a science writer and space imaging specialist and his book Visions of Mars is spectacular, not just because of the photos, but because the author makes us feel right at home on Mars. 

While marvelling at features such as the Valles Marineris canyon which is 5000km long and up to 11 km deep, we learn about how Mars has contributed to our understanding of geology due its exposed layers of rock, its huge volcanoes and its craters.

Four billion years ago Mars was covered in a sea 400 feet deep. When the acidic water evaporated it left behind salt minerals. Life could have evolved in this environment, but now the planet is cold with an average temperature of -63 degrees Celsius. Water is frozen in the soil, and on the surface it takes the form of water ice and dry ice.

Making Mars habitable would involve heating the dry ice of the South Pole in order to release carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases could be used for this (although not CFCs). It would take hundreds of years for the atmospheric pressure to rise, and then hundreds more, before enough plants are producing sufficient oxygen to support human life.

But lets wait and see what Curiosity finds. In the meantime come in and do some research at the Toronto Reference Library, Business, Science and Technology Department. 

 

 

 

 

At the Ex: Past, Present and Virtual

The smell of cotton candy, Tiny Tom donuts  fresh off the conveyor, the roar of the Snowbirds overhead, the city and the lake spreading out below you from the top of the ferris wheel—you can get it at the Ex, the CNE, the Canadian National Exhibition. This year’s fair starts on August 17—the 134th annual exhibition to take place on the lakeshore grounds.

 

The 1879 exhibition boasted a “Competition open to the world--$20,000 in prizes” and the 2012 fair offers the new CNE Sky Ride, the NITRO rollercoaster and the 250th anniversary of the sandwich.  In between came the Lumiere Brothers' Cinematographe in 1898, the latest in racing cars,  the Prince of Wales, the Food Building (built in the 20s and rebuilt in the 50s), and the giant commercial trade shows of the new century.

                                                                          Photo: CNE Media

 
Barney Oldfield and his racing car at the CNE 1913: Toronto Reference Library

Prince of Wales at the CNE, 1919: Toronto Reference Library

 

The Ex has always had special places for kids--for fun, for thrills and just to get lost.

 

CNE Lost Children's Tent, 1923: Toronto Reference Library

Use the virtual tour and the interactive CNE map to plan your visit--or use the library's 1974 edition to relive the mid-twentieth century.  Read more history in The Romance of the Canadian National Exhibition (1936), The Ex: a picture history of the Canadian National Exhibition (1973) or Once upon a century: 100 year history of the "Ex" (1978).

 

The past is still present at the CNE, and not just in old photos.  Take the Haunted CNE walking tour, and hear author and paranormal researcher Richard Palmisano tell the stories of the ghosts who inhabit the grounds. Read all the details in his 2011 book.

 

See more CNE photos in the Toronto Public Library Digital Archive.  You can order your own reproductions--print or digital.

Just go to the Ex--

 

Special Collections Exhibit: War of 1812 and more...

An exhibit of manuscripts and maps relating to the War of 1812 is currently on display on the 2nd floor of the Toronto Reference Library.  The originals of all facsimiles in the display cases can be viewed in the Baldwin Room on the 4th floor of the Library.

 

Map of War of 1812

 

Proclamation by Isaac Brock

 

 Other materials highlighted in this exhibit of rare materials from Special Collections are: coloured engravings of flowers, early maps, and advertising trade cards. 

 

Map of Palma

 

Floral print

 

 

 

 

advertising blotter

Each month, a new exhibit from Special Collections will be featured in the display cases on the 2nd floor of the Toronto Reference Library.