The David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) is an
astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. ...
site in
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1935, it was owned and operated by the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
until 2008. It was then acquired by the city of Richmond Hill, which provides a combination of heritage preservation, unique recreation opportunities and a celebration of the astronomical history of the site. Its primary instrument is a
reflector telescope
A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...
, at one time the second-largest telescope in the world, and still the largest in Canada. Several other telescopes are also located at the site, which formerly also included a small
radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...
. The scientific legacy of the David Dunlap Observatory continues in the
Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto is an astronomical research centre.
The institute was founded in 2008 with the help of endowed gifts to the University of Toronto from David M. Dunlap and J. Moffa ...
, a research institute at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
established in 2008.
The DDO is the site of a number of important scientific studies, including pioneering measurements of the distance to
globular cluster
A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of membe ...
s, providing the first direct evidence that
Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1 (abbreviated Cyg X-1) is a galactic X-ray source in the constellation Cygnus and was the first such source widely accepted to be a black hole. It was discovered in 1964 during a rocket flight and is one of the ...
was a
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can def ...
, and the discovery that
Polaris
Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude th ...
was stabilizing and appeared to be "falling out" of the
Cepheid variable
A Cepheid variable () is a type of star that pulsates radially, varying in both diameter and temperature and producing changes in brightness with a well-defined stable period and amplitude.
A strong direct relationship between a Cepheid vari ...
category. Located on a hill, yet still relatively close to sea level at altitude, and now surrounded by urban settlement, its optical astronomy ability has been reduced as compared to other remote observatory sites around the world. On 31 July 2019, the DDO was accepted by the National Historic Board as a
National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
.
History
Genesis
The DDO owes its existence almost entirely to the efforts
Clarence Chant. Chant had not shown an early interest in astronomy, but while attending
University College, University of Toronto
University College, popularly referred to as UC, is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, created in 1853 specifically as an institution of higher learning free of religious affiliation. It was the founding member of the universit ...
he became interested in mathematics and
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...
, eventually joining the university as a lecturer in physics in 1892. Over the next several years he worked as a schoolteacher and civil servant. During a later leave of absence he earned his PhD from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
and did
postdoctoral work in Germany.
Chant joined the Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto in December 1892; it was renamed the
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 1902. Chant became president of the Society, serving between 1904 and 1907. Throughout the 1890s, Chant was concerned about how little the University did for astronomy, and in 1904 he proposed adding several undergraduate courses for fourth-year students, and six such courses were added to the 1905 calendar.
With courses now officially on the books, Chant started looking for a proper telescope. Previously the university had hosted the
Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory
The Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory is a historical observatory located on the grounds of the University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project ...
, which had been run by the Meteorological Office of the
Ministry of Marine and Fisheries. The observatory, built in 1840, had contained the high-quality Cooke Refractor, but the Observatory was now surrounded by new university buildings, rendering it useless for astronomy. The Meteorological Office had already decided to abandon the site and turn the building over to the university, but they were taking the telescope to their new location at 315
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Park ...
West. Even if the university had been able to secure time on the instrument, which was highly likely, it was at this time quite a small instrument in comparison to those being built around the world.
The same problem of encroachment that had led to the observatory falling into disuse led Chant to conclude that there was no suitable location on the university grounds for a new observatory, and he started looking for off-campus sites. While looking, he started getting quotes for a new instrument from
Warner & Swasey in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
, Ohio, who had provided the mount for the recently opened
Dominion Observatory in Ottawa. In 1910 Chant finally found a suitable location, a plot of land near what is today
Bathurst Street and
St. Clair Avenue
St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road (the Third Concession), north of Bloor Street and north of Queen Street.
St. Clair Avenue ...
. The land had originally been set aside by the city for the Isolation Hospital, but this was never constructed and it now lay empty. Chant convinced the city to become involved in the Royal Astronomical Observatory, but the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
put the project on hold, and in 1919 it was cancelled outright.
Dunlap involvement
Chant then turned to the local business community to fund the project. Similar collaborations had been very successful in the United States, but Chant found an entirely different reception in Canada and nothing seemed forthcoming. His fortunes changed in 1921 when Chant delivered a public lecture on Comet
7P/Pons-Winnecke, which had recently been visible in Canada. One of the attendees was
Hollinger Mines
The Hollinger Gold Mine was discovered on October 9, 1909, by Benny Hollinger, who found the gold-bearing quartz dike that later became known as Hollinger Mines. With his friend, professional prospector Alex Gillies, Hollinger had travelled to the ...
co-founder, lawyer
David Dunlap (1863–1924), who became interested in astronomy as a result of the lecture, and expressed an interest in Chant's efforts to build a large observatory. Before making any financial commitment, however, Dunlap died in October 1924 at age 61 ''(also see )''. Chant approached his widow, Jessie Dunlap, in late 1926 with the idea of erecting an observatory as a monument to her husband. Mrs. Dunlap promised to "keep it in
erheart for consideration, for it appeals to me tremendously".
By this point the chosen site was within the rapidly-growing city's lit areas, and no longer suitable for astronomy. A site much further from the city was needed, to ensure it too would not be crowded out. The first site studied was outside
Aurora, Ontario
Aurora ( 2021 population: 62,057) is a town in central York Region in the Greater Toronto Area, within the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada. It is located north of the City of Richmond Hill and is partially situated on the Oak Ridg ...
, but it was decided that it was too far from the university for casual travel. Another site near
Hogg's Hollow
Hoggs Hollow is a residential neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Don River Valley and centred on the intersection of Yonge Street, York Mills Road, and Wilson Avenue.
Hoggs Hollow is named after the Hogg family. Ja ...
was also studied, but was not easily accessible. The eventual site was selected while Chant was studying
topographical map
In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...
s with fellow astronomer Reynold Young, finding a suitable spot north of the city. The site was a short distance east of
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...
, and the
Canadian Northern Ontario Railway line ran along the western end of the site. It was on lot 42 on what was Alexander Marsh farm and orchard. When Chant took Dunlap to see the site for the first time, she stated "this is the place!" and authorized its purchase for
C$28,000.
Construction
Chant immediately started ordering a telescope, selecting a instrument from
Grubb, Parsons and Company in England. This would make it the second-largest telescope in the world, second only to the instrument at
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles.
The observat ...
. It was, however, only slightly larger than the one that had recently gone into service for the
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. The Dominion architect responsible for the building was Edgar Lewis Horwood. The main instrument ...
in British Columbia, at . The observatory building itself started construction, and the eighty-ton sixty-one-foot (18.6 m) copper dome was built by Grubb and Parsons in 1932 and arrived in 1933. The administration building, a few hundred feet from the main observatory, also started construction and designed by Mathers & Haldenby Architects. The mirror blank (the two outermost inches (5 cm) of the mirror are not used) was supplied by
Corning Incorporated
Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company that specializes in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The c ...
and cast in
Pyrex
Pyrex (trademarked as ''PYREX'' and ''pyrex'') is a brand introduced by Corning Inc. in 1915 for a line of clear, low-thermal-expansion borosilicate glass used for laboratory glassware and kitchenware. It was later expanded to include kitchenwa ...
from a batch of glass that Corning also used to produce the mirror for
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...
. Chant and Mrs. Dunlap attended the pouring of the mirror at the factory in
Corning, New York
Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,551 at the 2020 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company t ...
in June 1933. The mirror was
annealed, then shipped to Grubb-Parsons in England for
polishing
Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or by applying a chemical treatment, leaving a clean surface with a significant specular reflection (still limited by the index of refraction of the material accordin ...
. The telescope was completed in time for the finished mirror's return in May 1935.
The official opening was on 31 May 1935, Chant's 70th birthday. The
opening ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event. was attended by notables including
Sir Frank Dyson, former
Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834.
The post ...
, and former Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
, who praised the Observatory as "a gift to science all over the world". Chant retired the same day and moved into Observatory House, the original pre-
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical iss ...
farmhouse
FarmHouse (FH) is a social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate chapters (formerly colonies) in the United State ...
(built in 1864 for Alexander Marsh and known also as Elms Lea Alexander Marsh) just to the south of the administration buildings, where he spent his remaining years. In May 1939, the train carrying
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...
and
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
on their cross-Canada tour paused on the railway below the observatory, the largest telescope in the commonwealth.
Grubb-Parsons built four more 1.88-metre telescopes with similarities to the instrument in Richmond Hill: for
Radcliffe Observatory
Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and built a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a Grade I listed building. Today, the ...
near Pretoria,
Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University (ANU).
History
The observatory was established in 1924 as The Commonweal ...
in Australia,
Helwan
Helwan ( ar, حلوان ', , cop, ϩⲁⲗⲟⲩⲁⲛ, Halouan) is a city in Egypt and part of Greater Cairo, on the bank of the Nile, opposite the ruins of Memphis. Originally a southern suburb of Cairo, it served as the capital of the now d ...
Observatory in Egypt, and an observatory in
Okayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the ...
in Japan. The South African instrument was disassembled and moved to
Sutherland, Northern Cape in the 1970s because of light pollution. The original telescope mirror at Helwan was replaced by Zeiss in 1997, and the telescope at Mount Stromlo was destroyed by fire in 2003. A 1.93-metre Grubb-Parsons telescope at
Haute-Provence Observatory with a higher-resolution
spectrograph
An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...
was used to discover an
extrasolar planet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
orbiting the star
51 Pegasi
51 Pegasi (abbreviated 51 Peg), formally named Helvetios , is a Sun-like star located from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first main-sequence star found to have an exoplanet (designated 51 Pegasi b, officially named ...
in 1995.
The three smaller domes at the top of the DDO administration building are used for smaller instruments. Soon after the observatory opened in 1935, a
Cassegrain reflector
The Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and radio antennas, the main characteristic being that the optical path folds back onto itself, relative to t ...
telescope was installed in the southern dome. The Cooke Refractor had been out of use since the Meteorological Office had given it to
Hart House, but it was little used and was moved into the northern dome in 1951 to be used by undergraduates. In 1965, a similar Cassegrain was added to the central dome.
Operations
From 1946 to 1951 the observatory director was
Frank Scott Hogg, who was joined at the DDO by his wife
Helen Sawyer Hogg. After her husband's death, Helen continued at the observatory, surveying globular clusters to gauge their distance, publishing a major catalog of variable stars in clusters. Her weekly 'With the Stars' column in the
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...
was published from 1951 to 1981. In 1959 and 1966 staff astronomer
Sidney van den Bergh
Sidney Van den Bergh, OC, FRS (born 20 May 1929 in Wassenaar) is a retired Dutch-Canadian astronomer.
He showed an interest in science from an early age, learning to read with books on astronomy. In addition to being interested in astronomy. ...
composed a database of dwarf galaxies known as the
David Dunlap Observatory Catalogue.
In collaboration with the
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Donald MacRae established a radio astronomy observatory on the observatory grounds in 1956. The DDO work led to the 1963 measurement of the absolute
flux density
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ...
of
Cassiopeia A
Cassiopeia A (Cas A) () is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Cassiopeia and the brightest extrasolar radio source in the sky at frequencies above 1 GHz. The supernova occurred approximately away within the Milky Way ...
at 320 MHz, a radiometric standard. The DDO also built an
radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...
in
Algonquin Park
Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canad ...
in northern Ontario, co-locating it at the site of the larger
Algonquin Radio Observatory
The Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) is a radio observatory located in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1959 in order to host a number of the National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) ongoing experiments in a more ra ...
. This instrument was actively used until 1991, when budget cuts led to it being abandoned. It was later used by a private group as part of a
SETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other pl ...
project,
Project TARGET
A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal.
An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...
, and has reported moved to a site outside
Shelburne, Ontario
Shelburne (2016 population 8,126) is a town in Dufferin County, Ontario, Canada, is located at the intersection of Highway 10 and Highway 89. Shelburne hosts the Annual Canadian Championship Old Time Fiddling Contest that is held each August.
...
.
In 1960 observatory operations formed the narrative framework of the
National Film Board
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...
(NFB) short film ''
Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...
''. The film was nominated for the
33rd Academy Awards in the category of best documentary, short subject in 1961. ''Universe'' was shown at the
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...
where it was seen by
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
and
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
, who were starting work on the film that eventually became ''
2001: A Space Odyssey''. ''Universe'' featured future DDO director Donald MacRae and was narrated by Stanley Jackson.
Tom Bolton was hired as a postdoctoral fellow at the DDO in 1970. In 1971 he used data from the
Uhuru X-ray observatory, and
Naval Research Laboratory
The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technologic ...
sounding rocket
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...
s launched from
White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...
to find the optical
companion star
A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in ...
to the X-ray source Cygnus X-1. Those X-ray telescopes had a certain degree of accuracy, but follow-up optical-wavelength studies of possible companions were required to eliminate a shortlist of many stars in the same area of sky. Bolton observed the star HDE 226868 independently of the work by
Louise Webster
Betty Louise Turtle (née Webster lso Webster in published works (20 May 1941 - 29 September 1990) was an Australian astronomer and physicist. In 1971, with her colleague Paul Murdin, she identified the powerful X-ray source Cygnus X-1 as the f ...
and
Paul Murdin
Paul Geoffrey Murdin (born 5 January 1942) is a British astronomer. He identified the first clear candidate for a black hole, Cygnus X-1, with his colleague Louise Webster.
He studied Mathematics and Physics at the universities of Oxford and ...
, at the
Royal Greenwich Observatory
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...
, who could not prove that star was Cygnus X-1's optical companion. The high dispersion of the telescope's spectrograph, combined with the aperture was adequate to prove the star was the source of the X-ray emissions and that its behaviour was inconsistent with a normal eclipsing star.
Shifting locations
With the rapid growth of university funding in the 1960s more offices were being built in the downtown campus, and with the opening of the McLennan Labs more and more of the department moved into the new facilities. The Administration Building at the DDO headquartered the Astronomy Department until the 1960s, although the weekly department meetings continued to be held there until 1978. The main library was shifted downtown in 1983. The Cooke Refractor, now almost unused, was later donated to the
Canada Science and Technology Museum
The Canada Science and Technology Museum (abbreviated as CSTM; french: Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada) is a national museum of science and technology in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum has a mandate to preserve and promot ...
in 1984.
The main reflector at the DDO remained a major instrument into the 1960s, but in the end even the "remote" location Chant had selected was being encroached on by
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
. Although some consideration was given to moving the telescope to a new site, in the end it was decided the funds would be better spent on a smaller instrument in a much better location. This led to the building of a instrument at
Las Campanas in Chile in 1971, creating the
University of Toronto Southern Observatory (UTSO). It was at this location that University of Toronto telescope operator
Ian Shelton discovered
Supernova 1987A
SN 1987A was a type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It occurred approximately from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova. 1987A's light reached Earth on Febr ...
, the first supernova visible to the naked eye in more than 350 years.
The UTSO was closed in 1997 to re-allocate funds to a share of the
Gemini Observatory
The Gemini Observatory is an astronomical observatory consisting of two 8.1-metre (26.6 ft) telescopes, Gemini North and Gemini South, which are located at two separate sites in Hawaii and Chile, respectively. The twin Gemini telescopes prov ...
, and the telescope was moved to
El Leoncito in Argentina, where the University has a 25% share in observation time. While University operations continued at the DDO, international observers used about 50% of observing time there.
Closure, sale, redevelopment and reopening
By the mid-1990s, the observatory remained the largest single-mirror site in Canada, but it was considered small by modern standards.
The cutting edge of Canadian university astronomy studies was involved in some of the world's largest observatories: the
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is a submillimetre-wavelength radio telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, US. The telescope is near the summit of Mauna Kea at . Its primary mirror is 15 metres (16.4 yards) across: it is the lar ...
, the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The ...
and the Gemini Observatory. None of these telescopes are located in Canada. After the UTSO was closed, in 1998 the
Canadian Astronomical Society, a society of university astronomers, published a long range plan emphasizing the study of the origins of structure in the universe, a task well-suited to cutting-edge telescopes but ill-suited to the DDO. The long-range plan suggested the future of observatories such as the DDO lay in public outreach programs and training. In 2005 Canadian universities joined a partnership to build the
Thirty Meter Telescope, expected to cost more than $1 billion.
In September 2007, the University stated it planned to sell the DDO property owing to
light pollution
Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day or night. Light po ...
.
The university's governing council voted on the issue during the week of 1 November 2007, and agreed to sell the site to the highest bidder. The of land in the midst of a very large subdivision area was expected to fetch $100 million, some of which the university planned to use to found a Dunlap Institute to continue astronomical research. For the purposes of the sale, the land was partitioned into a Parcel A and a Parcel B (also known as the 'panhandle'), upon which sits the Elvis Stojko Arena and a park with a 200-metre-wide solar system art piece. The land upon which the arena was built was leased to the Town until the Town purchased the 'panhandle' lands in 2012.
At the end of June 2008, the university completed the sale of both parcels of the property to Corsica Development Inc., a subsidiary of Metrus Development Inc. for $70 million, a lower price than expected. Observatory staff were laid off and faculty reassigned to the downtown St. George campus.
The Town of Richmond Hill planned a hearing with the Conservation Review Board of Ontario to argue for protection of the western 48% of the property including the observatory buildings under the
Ontario Heritage Act
The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage ...
; at the hearing, the Richmond Hill Naturalists argued for 100% designation of the property, all the buildings and their contents,
[ and the Observatory Hill Homeowners Association argued for the protection of the heritage woodlots and arboretums. Corsica Development Inc. was also represented before the CRB. Preliminary hearings took place on 3 September and 15 October 2008. Corsica Development Inc. is administered by Metrus in conjunction with The Conservatory Group and Marel Contracting. At the same time, the RASC-TC were selected over the DDOD to manage and operate the observatory.
The Conservation Review Board hearing to determine the extent of the Cultural Heritage Landscape designation to be afforded to the Dunlap site took place in Richmond Hill between 15 to 23 January 2009, and the Board recommendation was published on 4 June. The Board recommended preservation of the observatory buildings and up to 80% of the property as a cultural heritage landscape. On 29 September 2009, Richmond Hill Town Council voted unanimously in favour of the designating by-law. The Town proceeded with a number of public meetings and reports in late 2009 to craft guidelines for the conservation, planning and design of the property. Corsica Development Inc. undertook an archaeological survey of the property. On 15 April 2010, stemming from an incident on the property in November 2009, Corsica Development Inc. pleaded guilty in York Region court to 17 counts of cutting a tree without a permit and was issued a fine of $44,880. The company also planted 100 new trees on the property as part of the judgment.
In January 2009, Corsica published the website observatoryhill.ca describing the property, stating, " eare in the process of looking for an astronomy club to occupy the observatory and welcome proposals for consideration." On 22 April 2009, Corsica and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada announced an agreement allowing the RASC to provide public education and outreach programs at the observatory, and to operate the 1.88m telescope. On 14 June, the RASC Toronto Centre published the website www.theddo.ca, to make tickets available for public astronomy nights at the observatory starting on 18 July. Astronomy events at the observatory continued, such as ]Perseid meteor shower
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail (called the radiant) lies in the constellation Perseus.
Etymology
The name ...
events that drew high attendance and media coverage. These new operations continued through 2016, combined with opportunities such as use of the observatory for location shoots of the Syfy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. La ...
(formerly Sci-Fi Channel) series ''Warehouse 13
''Warehouse 13'' is an American science fiction television series that originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network, and was executive produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions. Describ ...
'' and the NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
television series ''Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Pu ...
''.
In May 2013, after continued debate and appeals for mediation between the town of Richmond Hill and Metrus/Corsica, the Ontario Municipal Board
The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters s ...
handed down a decision to support official plan amendment 270, the mediated settlement that set aside 56 percent of the site's land to residents for a future public park. Corsica would be allowed to build 530 homes on the eastern portion of the site. Combined with the previous purchase by the Town of Richmond Hill of the Elvis Stojko Arena and surrounding land for $19.5 million, a total of 11 acres of the original 189-acre property is owned by the town. A further legal appeal by the Richmond Hill Naturalists to preserve the entire site from development was launched in August 2013 and was ultimately unsuccessful. The group was eventually ordered to pay some of the developers' court costs in September 2015.
In November 2014, the David Dunlap Observatory Defenders group chairperson and founder Karen Cilevitz resigned from her position after being elected to be local councillor for the region's Ward (Ward 5). The organization then formed a new group, the Friends of the David Dunlap Observatory Park, to function as the public stakeholder entity for site advocacy, public engagement and community outreach. In response, in December 2014 both the RASC-TC and the DDOD published editorial letters in the Richmond Hill Liberal, both claiming to be the "true" parties responsible for upkeep and operation of the Observatory.
In April 2015, Corsica (having changed their name to DG Group) announced plans to transfer ownership of the observatory buildings to the RASC. Despite RASC-TC's status as a registered charitable corporation, some parties to the 2012 five-party OMB settlement argued that the donation placed the future of the observatory in doubt, because RASC was not a government agency. In March 2016, the dispute was resolved through transfer of ownership of the property to the town of Richmond Hill.
On 20 July 2016, the RASC-TC declined to continue negotiations to lease the property for exclusive use and to continue to provide outreach programs at the heritage site. This led to the Town inviting proposals from 35 organizations to continue programming and maintenance of the site. Five applicants submitted proposals, including the York Region Astronomical Association (members of the RASC-TC who had been using, maintaining and programming the site), the RASC-TC, and the DDOD.
In October 2016, the Town of Richmond Hill approved a master plan to turn of the Observatory lands into a "destination park", for astronomical outreach programs, while adding recreational amenities such as walking paths, 4 tennis courts, an amphitheatre and a low-light level "Star Path" self-illuminating pathway. A feasibility study for a planetarium on the site was also intended. The project is expected to cost $54 million over 15–20 years.
In October 2017, the Town announced it would pursue a joint partnership with the RASC-TC and the DDOD to continue to provide educational and public outreach programming, ending the interim programming provided by the YRAA.
Contemporaries
The DDO main instrument was the second-largest telescope in the world when it began operation in 1935.
Some of the largest telescopes in 1935 were:
Later in the 1930s, an 82-inch telescope was completed at McDonald Observatory
McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional fac ...
in Texas. By the end of the next decade Dunlap's was still the fourth largest, due to the opening of the Hale Telescope
The Hale Telescope is a , 3.3 reflecting telescope at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, US, named after astronomer George Ellery Hale. With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1928, he orchestrated the planning, de ...
in 1948. However, the telescope has remained the largest telescope in Canada until 1992, when the somewhat unique UBC-Laval LMT 2.65 m (104 in) came online. However, the LMT is a zenith telescope that only points up, using a liquid metal mirror.
In popular culture
The Observatory is featured multiple times in the NBC television series ''Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Pu ...
''. The administration building resembles the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. The Observatory is also featured on the Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
production of ''The Umbrella Academy
''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The first six-issue limited series, '' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite,'' was released by Dark Horse Comics betwee ...
''.
See also
* Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory
The Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory is a historical observatory located on the grounds of the University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project ...
* York University Observatory
The Allan I. Carswell Astronomical Observatory, formerly known as the York University Astronomical Observatory, is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by York University. It is located in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Ca ...
* List of astronomical observatories in Canada
* List of observatories
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
Further reading
* ''The Cold Light of Dawn: A History of Canadian Astronomy'', Richard A. Jarrell, University of Toronto Press, 1988,
External links
Official web site for the Observatory (2018–)
Official web site for the Observatory (2009–2016)
Richmond Hill Naturalists – Save the Observatory Site
Archival papers of Clarence Augustus Chant, a lobbyist for the observatory, held at University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
Archival papers of Frank Scott Hogg, Director (1946), held at University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlap Observatory
Astronomical observatories in Canada
University of Toronto buildings
Buildings and structures completed in 1935
Buildings and structures in Richmond Hill, Ontario
National Historic Sites in Ontario