62-729: 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 is the 72-inch- aperture (1.83 m) Plaskett telescope , proposed and designed by John S. Plaskett in 1910 with the support of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research . The observatory has been designated
124-589: A national historic site of Canada , as it is a world-renowned facility where many discoveries about the nature of the Milky Way were made, and it was one of the world's main astrophysical research centres until the 1960s. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada , Victoria Centre, which has a long association with the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and public outreach dating back to 1914, holds free public "star parties" at
186-521: A 72-inch (1.8-meter) telescope built in 1845, was, by the 1890s, out of commission. Although slightly smaller than the Leviathan, the 60-inch had many advantages including a far better site, a glass mirror instead of speculum metal, and a precision mount which could accurately track any direction in the sky, so the 60-inch was a major advance. The 60-inch telescope is a reflector telescope built for Newtonian , Cassegrain and coudé configurations. It
248-594: A change of 3.1% from its 2016 population of 114,148. With a land area of 103.59 square kilometres (40.00 sq mi), it had a population density of 1,136.5/km (2,943.6/sq mi) in 2021. According to the 2021 census , religious groups in Saanich included: The Saanich District Council is the governing body of the municipality of Saanich. The council consists of the Mayor and eight councillors. The northeastern half of British Columbia's third-largest university,
310-468: A productive center, with the CHARA array continuing important stellar research. The initial efforts to mount a telescope to Mount Wilson occurred in the 1880s by one of the founders of University of Southern California , Edward Falles Spence , but he died without finishing the funding effort. The observatory was conceived and founded by George Ellery Hale , who had previously built the 1 meter telescope at
372-563: A shift to reflectors was still growing. It also surpassed the 72-inch (1.83 m) metal mirror Leviathan of Parsonstown , built in 1845 but dismantled by the 1910s. The Plaskett telescope remained the second largest until the 74-inch (1.88 m) reflector at David Dunlap Observatory in 1935 (also in Canada) debuted. Top 2 in 1918: The next largest were the Harvard College Observatory 60-inch (1.52 m) and
434-575: Is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California , United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson , a 5,710-foot (1,740-meter) peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena , northeast of Los Angeles. The observatory contains two historically important telescopes: the 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope , which was the largest aperture telescope in the world from its completion in 1917 to 1949, and
496-434: Is currently used in the bent Cassegrain configuration. It became one of the most productive and successful telescopes in astronomical history. Its design and light-gathering power allowed the pioneering of spectroscopic analysis, parallax measurements, nebula photography, and photometric photography. Though surpassed in size by the § 100-inch Hooker telescope nine years later, the 60-inch telescope remained one of
558-446: Is divided into twelve local areas for planning purposes. In addition, there are a number of community associations in the municipality that represent neighbourhoods largely overlapping with the local areas. The Local Areas, and representative community associations, are listed below: In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada , Saanich had a population of 117,735 living in 48,048 of its 50,064 total private dwellings,
620-633: Is expanding. The Hooker's reign of three decades as the largest telescope came to an end when the Caltech -Carnegie consortium completed its 200-inch (5.1 m) Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory , 144 km south, in San Diego County, California . The Hale Telescope saw first light in January 1949. By the 1980s, the focus of astronomy research had turned to deep space observation, which required darker skies than what could be found in
682-522: Is fitted to the Cassegrain focus and an imaging charge-coupled device (CCD) is attached to the Newtonian focus. In 1962, a 48-inch (1.22 m) optical telescope was added to the observatory. The telescope, ordered in 1957, was made by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne , England. Its Coude focus is used with a room-sized spectrograph. In 1995, the observatory was made the headquarters of
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#1732773399780744-567: Is mostly used by undergraduate students who get hands-on training in solar physics and spectroscopy. It was also used publicly for the May 9, 2016 transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. The 60-foot (18 m) Solar Tower soon built on the work started at the Snow telescope. At its completion in 1908, the vertical tower design of the 60-foot focal length solar telescope allowed much higher resolution of
806-433: Is still used for solar research. The Snow Solar Telescope was the first telescope installed at the fledgling Mount Wilson Solar Observatory. It was the world's first permanently mounted solar telescope. Solar telescopes had previously been portable so they could be taken to solar eclipses around the world. The telescope was donated to Yerkes Observatory by Helen Snow of Chicago. George Ellery Hale, then director of Yerkes, had
868-459: Is undulating with many glacially scoured rock outcroppings. Elevations range from sea level to 229 metres (751 ft). There are 8.1749 square kilometres (3.1563 sq mi) of freshwater lakes and 29.61 kilometres (18.40 mi) of marine shoreline. Saanich is also home to the northern half of the University of Victoria (with the neighbouring district municipality of Oak Bay home to
930-521: The 60-inch telescope which was the largest operational telescope in the world when it was completed in 1908. It also contains the Snow solar telescope completed in 1905, the 60 foot (18 m) solar tower completed in 1908, the 150 foot (46 m) solar tower completed in 1912, and the CHARA array , built by Georgia State University , which became fully operational in 2004 and was the largest optical interferometer in
992-684: The NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics . There were also tours of the telescope and programs in the planetarium and video theatre. The centre was closed by the federal government in August 2013, which stated financial issues as the reason. The Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Society (FDAO) was formed in 2015 with a goal of reinstating the programs terminated when the Centre of
1054-567: The University of Victoria campus, is in Saanich, while the southwestern portion is in neighbouring Oak Bay. Saanich is also home to both major campuses of Camosun College , the original Lansdowne campus, and the Interurban campus. Saanich is divided between two bordering school districts, School District 61 Greater Victoria and School District 63 Saanich . It is also the home of South Island Distance Education School . 100-inch Hooker telescope The Mount Wilson Observatory ( MWO )
1116-631: The Yerkes Observatory , then the world's largest telescope. The Mount Wilson Solar Observatory was first funded by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1904, leasing the land from the owners of the Mount Wilson Hotel in 1904. Among the conditions of the lease was that it allow public access. There are three solar telescopes at Mount Wilson Observatory. Just one of these telescopes, the 60-foot Solar Tower,
1178-563: The Carnegie Institution to build an observatory. Grinding began in 1905 and took two years. The mounting and structure for the telescope was built in San Francisco and barely survived the 1906 earthquake . Transporting the pieces to the top of Mount Wilson was an enormous task. First light was December 8, 1908. It was, at the time, the largest operational telescope in the world. Lord Rosse's Leviathan of Parsonstown ,
1240-534: The DAO on select summer Saturday evenings. These events include solar and nighttime viewing with RASC and DAO telescopes, presentations, lectures, and displays. The Centre of the Universe was the public interpretive centre for the observatory that was regularly open to the public between May and September. The centre featured interactive exhibits about astronomy, the work of the observatory and its parent organization,
1302-523: The Hooker telescope was equipped with a special attachment, a 6-meter optical astronomical interferometer developed by Albert A. Michelson , much larger than the one he had used to measure Jupiter's satellites. Michelson was able to use the equipment to determine the precise diameter of stars, such as Betelgeuse , the first time the size of a star had ever been measured. Henry Norris Russell developed his star classification system based on observations using
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#17327733997801364-476: The Hooker. In 1935 the silver coating used since 1917 on the Hooker mirror was replaced with a more modern and longer lasting aluminum coating that reflected 50% more light than the older silver coating. The newer method of coating for the telescope mirrors was first tested on the older 1.5 meter mirror. Edwin Hubble performed many critical calculations from work on the Hooker telescope. In 1923, Hubble discovered
1426-645: The Hudson's Bay Company. A school was needed for the children of farm employees, as well as those of arriving settlers. The Municipality of Saanich was incorporated on March 1, 1906. The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory telescope was designed by John Stanley Plaskett , an astronomer with the Department of the Interior in Ottawa . The 180-centimetre (72 in) reflecting telescope was the largest of its kind in
1488-609: The Library of Congress. Kohne and Tsan worked together to create the series, which has run every concert season except for a break during the Covid-19 pandemic . Given that the observatory is no longer able to do significant research due to light pollution, it receives no scientific funding; the concerts therefore provide a significant portion of the budget needed to maintain the observatory as an historic landmark, along with ticketed events such as public viewing nights. The observatory
1550-558: The Los Angeles area, due to the ever-increasing problem of light pollution . In 1989, the Carnegie Institution , which ran the observatory, handed it over to the non-profit Mount Wilson Institute. At that time, the 2.5-meter telescope was deactivated, but it was restarted in 1992 and in 1995 it was outfitted with a visible light adaptive optics system and later in 1997, it hosted the UnISIS, laser guide star adaptive optics system. As
1612-457: The Milky Way galaxy, and that several nebulae were millions of light-years away. He then showed that the universe was expanding . Once the sixty-inch telescope project was well underway, Hale immediately set about creating a larger telescope. John D. Hooker provided crucial funding of $ 45,000 for the purchase and grinding of the mirror, while Andrew Carnegie provided funds to complete
1674-686: The Mount Wilson 60-inch Hale. Saanich, British Columbia Saanich ( / ˈ s æ n ɪ tʃ / SAN -itch ) is a district municipality on the southern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia , Canada, within the Greater Victoria area. The population was 117,735 at the 2021 census , making it the most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and Vancouver Island , and
1736-577: The NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics , which operates several Canadian telescopes, both optical and radio. The NRC collaborates with international partners such as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope . The telescopes are in constant use and are open for visitors year round. An interpretive centre called the Centre of the Universe was opened in 2002 but closed in 2013 due to budgetary reasons. The Centre of
1798-603: The National Research Council to deal with a single organization with respect to the Centre of the Universe, and it was formally constituted and registered in 2015. The Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory now runs the education programmes on-site and online. As of October 2022, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Director was Dr James De Francesco. The Plaskett telescope was possibly planned to be
1860-414: The Sun published in early 2007. A 61 cm telescope fitted with an infrared detector purchased from a military contractor was used by Eric Becklin in 1966 to determine the center of the Milky Way for the first time. In 1968, the first large-area near-IR (2.2 μm) survey of the sky was conducted by Gerry Neugebauer and Robert B. Leighton using a 157 cm reflecting dish they had built in
1922-618: The Universe was closed. In May 2016, the FDAO signed a licence to occupy for the Centre of the Universe with the National Research Council . The building that houses the telescope was built by McAlpine-Robertson Company of Vancouver for a price of $ 75,000. Both the building and dome, made by Warner & Swasey Company , are double walled. The glass mirror, 73 inches (1.85 m) in diameter and 12 inches (0.30 m) thick, weighs approximately 4,340 pounds (1.97 t) and
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1984-544: The Universe was reopened in 2014 through an arrangement with the a working group consisting of members of the public who came together in response to the closure, along with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's Victoria Centre, and Science Venture at the University of Victoria. Work on the non-profit charity Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory began in 2014 because of the desire of
2046-611: The arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1840s. The Craigflower Schoolhouse (originally called Maple Point School), the oldest surviving school building in Western Canada, was built on orders from Kenneth MacKenzie. He came from Scotland with his family in 1852, on the Hudson's Bay Company ship, Norman Morison , to establish a farm for the Puget Sound Agricultural Company , a subsidiary of
2108-513: The civilian conversion. The telescope is used for public outreach as the second largest telescope in the world devoted to the general public. Custom made 10 cm eyepieces are fitted to its focus using the bent cassegrain configuration to provide views of the Moon, planetary, and deep-sky objects. Groups may book the telescope for an evening of observing. The 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope located at Mount Wilson Observatory , California,
2170-582: The dome. The idea to use the dome as a venue for live music originated in 2017 from a conversation between Dan Kohne, a board member of the Mt. Wilson Institute, and Cécilia Tsan, an internationally recognized cellist. Tsan agreed that the acoustics in the dome were "extraordinary", comparable to such world-renowned venues as the Palais Garnier (Opéra de Paris) and the Coolidge Auditorium at
2232-635: The early 1960s. Known as the Caltech Infrared Telescope , it operated in an unguided drift scanning mode using a lead(II) sulfide (PbS) photomultiplier read out on paper charts. The telescope is now on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center , part of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum . On one Sunday each month during the warmer months of the year, Mt. Wilson Observatory hosts a chamber music or jazz concert in
2294-791: The eighth-most populous in the province. With an area of 103.44 square kilometres (39.94 sq mi), Saanich is also the largest municipality in Greater Victoria. The district adopted its name after the Saanich First Nation , meaning "emerging land" or "emerging people". Saanich contains a mix of urban, suburban, and rural areas stretching north to the Saanich Peninsula with a wide variety of features including ocean coastlines, freshwater lakes, small rivers, small mountains, rainforests, and agriculture ranging from hay to vineyards.The municipality's topography
2356-436: The end of the 100-inch telescope and used the telescope as a guiding platform to maintain alignment with the stars being studied. By December 1920, Michelson and Pease were able to use the equipment to determine the precise diameter of a star, the red giant Betelgeuse, the first time the angular size of a star had ever been measured. In the next year, Michelson and Pease measured the diameters of six more red giants before reaching
2418-400: The first Cepheid variable in the spiral nebula of Andromeda using the 2.5-meter telescope. This discovery allowed him to calculate the distance to the spiral nebula of Andromeda and show that it was actually a galaxy outside the Milky Way . Hubble, assisted by Milton L. Humason , observed the magnitude of the redshift in many galaxies and published a paper in 1929 that showed the universe
2480-469: The grinding. This added two years to the completion time of the telescope, pushing the date back to 1918. The mirror was sent to Victoria by train, which arrived in Victoria six days later. The completed mirror was hauled up Little Saanich Mountain by horse and wagon. Images of the construction are available. Following completion, Plaskett remained the head of the observatory until 1935. A spectrograph
2542-572: The ground floor. It was first completed in 1910, but unsatisfactory optics caused a two-year delay before a suitable doublet lens was installed. Research included solar rotation, sunspot polarities, daily sunspot drawings , and many magnetic field studies. The solar telescope would be the world's largest for 50 years until the McMath-Pierce Solar telescope was completed at Kitt Peak in Arizona in 1962. In 1985, UCLA took over operation of
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2604-657: The largest in use for decades. In 1992, the 60-inch telescope was fitted with an early adaptive optics system, the Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (ACE). The 69-channel system improved the potential resolving power of the telescope from 0.5 to 1.0 arc sec to 0.07 arc sec. ACE was developed by DARPA for the Strategic Defense Initiative system, and the National Science Foundation funded
2666-517: The largest telescope in the world but delays meant it was completed and saw "first light" on May 6, 1918, six months after the 100-inch Hooker telescope (2.54 m) at Mount Wilson Observatory . However, although the Hooker telescope achieved a first light on November 1, 1917, it was not really opened until 1918, which was also affected by delays especially from World War I . At this point most observatories still had 19th-century-era refractors of at most 1 to 2 feet (0.30 to 0.61 m) in aperture, as
2728-453: The light in phase as the Earth rotates. CHARA began scientific use in 2002 and "routine operations" in early 2004. In the infrared, the integrated image can resolve down to 0.0005 arcseconds. Six telescopes are in regular use for scientific observations and as of late 2005 imaging results are routinely acquired. The array captured the first image of the surface of a main sequence star other than
2790-476: The limit of the available technology and it took about thirty years for faster computing, electronic detectors and lasers to make larger interferometers possible again. The Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI), run by an arm of the University of California, Berkeley , is an array of three 1.65 meter telescopes operating in the mid-infrared. The telescopes are fully mobile and their current site on Mount Wilson allows for placements as far as 70 meters apart, giving
2852-407: The mid infrared. The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA), built and operated by Georgia State University , is an interferometer formed from six 1 meter telescopes arranged along three axes with a maximum separation of 330 m. The light beams travel through vacuum pipes and are delayed and combined optically, requiring a building 100 meters long with movable mirrors on carts to keep
2914-439: The resolution limit of the 20-foot beam interferometer. To expand on the work of the 20-foot interferometer, Pease, Michelson and George E. Hale designed a 50-foot interferometer which was installed at Mount Wilson Observatory in 1929. It successfully measured the diameter of Betelgeuse, but, other than beta Andromedae, could not measure any stars not already measured by the 20-foot interferometer. Optical interferometry reached
2976-403: The resolution of a telescope of that diameter. The signals are converted to radio frequencies through heterodyne circuits and then combined electronically using techniques copied from radio astronomy . The longest, 70-meter baseline provides a resolution of 0.003 arcsec at a wavelength of 11 micrometers. On July 9, 2003, ISI recorded the first closure phase aperture synthesis measurements in
3038-413: The solar image and spectrum than the Snow telescope could achieve. The higher resolution came from situating the optics higher above the ground, thereby avoiding the distortion caused by the heating of the ground by the Sun. On June 25, 1908, Hale would record Zeeman splitting in the spectrum of a sunspot, showing for the first time that magnetic fields existed somewhere besides the Earth. A later discovery
3100-444: The solar tower design with its tower-in-a-tower design. (The tower is actually 176 feet (54 m) tall.) An inner tower supports the optics above, while an outer tower, which completely surrounds the inner tower, supports the dome and floors around the optics. This design allowed complete isolation of the optics from the effect of wind swaying the tower. Two mirrors feed sunlight to a 12-inch (30 cm) lens which focuses light down at
3162-534: The solar tower from the Carnegie Observatories after they decided to stop funding the observatory. For the 60-inch telescope, George Ellery Hale received the 60-inch (1.5 m) mirror blank, cast by Saint-Gobain in France, in 1896 as a gift from his father, William Hale. It was a glass disk 19 cm thick and weighing 860 kg. However it was not until 1904 that Hale received funding from
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#17327733997803224-735: The southern half), both campuses of Camosun College , and the Vancouver Island Technology Park. Saanich has been the home to First Nations people for thousands of years. Saanich is on the territory of the Lək̓ʷəŋən peoples known today as Songhees & Esquimalt Nations, the Malahat Nation and the Saanich Peoples . These Indigenous peoples have connections to the land and those traditions are carried on to this day. Non-Indigenous history begins with
3286-415: The telescope and dome. The Saint-Gobain factory was again chosen to cast a blank in 1906, which it completed in 1908. After considerable trouble over the blank (and potential replacements), the Hooker telescope was completed and saw "first light" on November 2, 1917. As with the sixty-inch telescope, the bearings are assisted by the use of mercury floats to support the 100 ton weight of the telescope. In 1919
3348-501: The telescope brought to Mount Wilson to put it into service as a proper scientific instrument. Its 24-inch (61 cm) primary mirror with a 60-foot (18 m) focal length, coupled with a spectrograph, did groundbreaking work on the spectra of sunspots, doppler shift of the rotating solar disc and daily solar images in several wavelengths. Stellar research soon followed as the brightest stars could have their spectra recorded with very long exposures on glass plates. The Snow solar telescope
3410-410: The use of multiple viewing points to increase resolution enough to allow for the direct measurement of details such as star diameters. The first of these interferometers was the 20-foot Stellar Interferometer. In 1919 the 100-inch Hooker telescope was equipped with a special attachment, a 20-foot optical astronomical interferometer developed by Albert A. Michelson and Francis G. Pease. It was attached to
3472-405: The use of the telescope for scientific work diminished again, a decision was made to convert it to use for visual observing. Because of the high position of the Cassegrain focus above the observing floor, a system of mirrors and lenses was developed to allow viewing from a position at the bottom of the telescope tube. With the conversion completed in 2014, the 2.5 meter telescope began its new life as
3534-481: The world at its completion. Due to the inversion layer that traps warm air and smog over Los Angeles, Mount Wilson has steadier air than any other location in North America, making it ideal for astronomy and in particular for interferometry . The increasing light pollution due to the growth of greater Los Angeles has limited the ability of the observatory to engage in deep space astronomy, but it remains
3596-468: The world when it was built, though this was only the case for a few short months in 1918. The District of Saanich contains a long shoreline with sandy beaches located at several ocean bays. Two of the beaches are Cadboro Bay Beach and Cordova Bay Beach. Cadboro Bay is known as the home of the " Cadborosaurus ", a mythical cryptid . Saanich's notable parks include PKOLS (Mount Douglas Park), Mount Tolmie Park (with viewpoints), and Cadboro-Gyro Park. Saanich
3658-410: The world's largest telescope dedicated to public use. Regularly scheduled observing began with the 2015 observing season. The telescope has a resolving power of 0.05 arcsecond . Astronomical interferometry has a rich history at Mount Wilson. No fewer than seven interferometers have been located here. The reason for this is the extremely steady air over Mount Wilson is well suited to interferometry,
3720-414: Was completed in 1917, and was the world's largest telescope until 1949. It is one of the most famous telescopes in observational astronomy of the 20th century. It was used by Edwin Hubble to make observations with which he produced two fundamental results which changed the scientific view of the Universe. Using observations he made in 1922–1923, Hubble was able to prove that the Universe extends beyond
3782-694: Was made by the Saint-Gobain company in their Charleroi glass works in Antwerp , Belgium, and shipped only a week before the start of World War I . It was then ground in the United States at the John A. Brashear Co. (founded by astronomer and telescope pioneer John A. Brashear ) in Pittsburgh . The mirror had to be reground twice, once due to a mysterious scratch and the second time due to a flaw in
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#17327733997803844-464: Was of the reversed polarity in sunspots of the new solar cycle of 1912. The success of the 60-foot Tower prompted Hale to pursue yet another, taller tower telescope. In the 1960s, Robert Leighton discovered the Sun had a 5-minute oscillation and the field of helioseismology was born. The 60-foot Tower is operated by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University of Southern California . The 150-foot (46 m) focal length solar tower expanded on
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