Petition: designate David Dunlap Observatory lands a National Historic Site

Image from Wikipedia

Byron Wilfert, the Member of Parliament representing Richmond Hill, is sponsoring a petition "Protect the David Dunlap Observatory Lands" to get the David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) lands designated as a National Historic Site. This is the beginning of a process that will hopefully lead to designation of the lands. The lands contain more than the Observatory and are also of historical and environmental interest.

There are no particular restrictions on who can sign the petition such as age or location; however, the more people from Richmond Hill and Canada sign the better.

Click here for the petition itself

• Summary of DDO petition at the MP's site
  
• The MP's site welcome page

The petition is hosted by petitiononline.com.

Privacy note: All of the information you provide will be public except for your email address which can be set as (1) private - the default, (2) available to the Petition Author, and (3) public. I'd recommend either option (2) or (1). At a minimum you must provide your name and email to sign the petition. All other information is optional.

While I didn't provide comments or a phone number, I did give my address as my city and I made my email address available to the petition author.

A confirmation notification will be sent to the email address you provide.

For more information on the DDO and conservation efforts:

• Wikipedia
• Mang's Bat Page articles on the DDO
• Richmond Hill Naturalists
• Save the DDO FaceBook Group
• Save the DDO!
• Observatory Park
  

David Dunlap Observatory slated to reopen in the IYA2009!

The observatory that confirmed the first black hole will reopen this summer for public outreach programs!

Congratulations to the folks at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada!

For more read the RASC news item.

No word on any potential research.

Related Articles

• April - Last chance to see DDO Canada's largest telescope  
• David Dunlap Observatory Tour and Photos 
• Black Hole discoverer to be eaten by land developers

April - Last chance to see DDO Canada's largest telescope

I just received confirmation that the David Dunlap Observatory is shutting down tour operations. I expect this is the first step in the shutdown relating to the sale of the property.

There is a brief window of opportunity for any groups remaining to see it and I wanted to get the word out.

Any Scouting (and Guiding) groups from wishing to see the largest telescope in Canada have one last chance to visit. The staff can accommodate all age ranges from Beavers through to Rovers. But you must act fast to secure a spot.

The following dates are available April 21, 23, 25, 27,28, and 29th. No tours will be run after April 30th.

Group size is not important at this point. It can be 10 people to 70 people and can include family and friends. The fee is $5 per person. The minimum deposit is being waived.

If you know of groups that could be interested, please pass the word.

♫

To arrange a tour contact the DDO by email tours@astro.utoronto.ca or see http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/DDO/public/tourschedule_scouts.html

The 433rd Cubs recently visited the DDO and had a great time.

Thanks, Mang

David Dunlap Observatory Tour and Photos

On March 4th 2008, the 433rd Cubs, parents, and a few Scouts paid a visit to the David Dunlap Observatory. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we couldn't actually see the stars or do our work for the Globe at Night's light pollution awareness project. We were fortunate to beat a major snowstorm that descended on the city shortly after we left.

We were able to take in a presentation at the administration building that covered many of the requirements of the Astronomers Badge. The tour also counts towards requirement B3 or the Black Star. Our cubs had some good questions and demonstrated their knowledge of astronomy including one or two things that surprised me.

Afterward we were able to visit the observatory dome and see the telescope. The scope is quite massive and the Cubs were impressed that it was so finely balanced that impatient astronomers could move the 25 ton assembly by hand!

We learned a bit of the history of the facility, its use for astrophotography, and a renown Canadian astronomer Helen Sawyer Hogg who conducted research at the DDO for many decades.

We also saw a spectrographic lens and learned a bit about some of the work being done, including a study of rather bizarre systems known as contact binaries. In these systems two rapidly co-orbiting stars are so close they actually touch but do not merge! There are a number of interesting question that aren't known about these including how they came so close.

Hopefully, we will be able to return later this spring to actually look through the eyepiece!

Our thanks to Tuba Koktay, Ian Shelton, and Thomas Karmo at the DDO.

Observatory Tour - March 4th, 2008

For information on the David Dunlap Observatory tour and directions, please see here.

With the proposed sale of the DDO this may be our last chance to see the Observatory!

Update: The DDO reservations page can be found here and directions here.

Black Hole discoverer to be eaten by land developers

The facility that first confirmed the existence of black holes now faces annihilation behind a $100M event horizon at the hands of land developers.

I have written about this previously, here.

A new link from the Richmond Hill Naturalists can be found here. They have set up an online petition.

• The text and form can be found here. The signature form is at the bottom of the petition text page.
  

This is a sad development on many levels.

Please add your voice!

An satellite view of the site is available here.

Some of the issues include:

• While light pollution has been cited as crippling the scope, observations are made using instruments that see light that is outside the range people can see.
• While the telescope cannot see to the edges of the universe like larger and more modern scopes, it can continue to do useful research.
  
• The disposition of the telescope is uncertain and may be left up to the buyer.
• The site is considered historical by many, including possible archeological interest.
• The site is also of environmental interest.

Some recent coverage of the proposed sale:

• Keep the observatory operating
  
• Sky falling at once-proud University of Toronto
• Observatory protest goes sky-high
• Observatory going dark
• University set to ruin a beloved institution
• Historic telescope blinded by the light
• Sky hounds want massive telescope for Whistler observatory

Help Save the David Dunlap Observatory!

The David Dunlop Observtory (DDO) in Richmond Hill is being sold off by the University of Toronto. The claim is that the DDO is no longer needed and that light pollution has destroyed it's usefulness. The DDO is the largest telescope in Canada and has been making useful observations outside of the visible light spectrum for years. The DDO site is also used by the RASC and other amateur astronomers.
The site is of historical and environmental interest and several groups are actively trying to block the sale of the site to developers.
The photos right were taken during the 433rd's last visited the DDO in 2004.

Here are some links to some of the groups:

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www.observatorypark.ca

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Toronto Chapter

The Royal Astronomical Society Toronto Centre, has spearheaded a working group, to save the DDO. See their website for details, updates and at further developments.

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Save the DDO FaceBook Group-Join the Facebook Group!

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Save the DDO!
Mathew Calamanici is a concerned Richmond Hill resident who is making a concerted Effort to save the observatory.

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Richmond Hill Naturalists - Save the Observatory

A group of naturalists who are concerned about the environmental impact of destroying the Carolinian Forest that surrounds the Observatory.

Helen Sawyer Hogg, a Professional astronomer at the DDO for many years, was a founding member of this group.

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The North York Astronomical Association

The organizers of the annual Mount Forest, Ontario, STARFEST astronomy convention are supporting the RASC effort.

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Queens Park Rally. (Toronto)

Where: Queens Park Grounds, Toronto
When: January 16^th 2008, 12 noon.

An organized rally is being held at Queens Park (University Avenue in Toronto) in a further effort to bring more attention to the efforts of many concerned citizens.

This rally has been organized by Tom Karmo , in conjunction with the Richmond Hill Naturalists and other concerned citizens.

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Thanks to Ray Khan for these links.