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2007-05-05

Dominion Observatory in Ottawa, Ontario
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The Dominion Observatory was an astronomical observatory in Ottawa, that operated from 1905 to 1970. In 1902 it was decided that Canada needed a large national observatory similar to the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Britain.

The new building was thus erected near Dow's Lake on the Agriculture Department's Central Experimental Farm land. Its main instrument was a 15 inch refracting telescope, the largest refracting telescope ever installed in Canada. The Dominion Observatory was Canada's leading institution in Geophysics for many decades, which included the operation of Canada's national seismometer network. For many years the Dominion Observatory was best known to Canadians as the source of Canada's official time signal.

The observatory continued in operation until 1970 at which time Canada's science institutions were reorganized. The national time-keeping and astronomical activities were transferred to the National Research Council of Canada, while the geophysics, surveying and mapping were transferred to the Department of Energy Mines and Resources. The Geophysics work was later merged into the Geological Survey of Canada, now part of Natural Resources Canada. The telescope had been open for public viewing from 1905 until 1970. In 1974 the telescope was moved from the Dominion Observatory to the Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory just outside the museum where it remains to this day.

Fujifilm S700

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Eric Carrère05-May-2007 13:58
C'est magnifique...V.
Guest 05-May-2007 11:45
beautiful scenic
Simon Chandler05-May-2007 06:46
Beautiful work. v
Guest 05-May-2007 02:55
Wonderful image. Voted.