Dominion Observatory
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (July 2021) |
The Dominion Observatory was an astronomical
Royal Greenwich Observatory
in Britain.
Chief Dominion Architect David Ewart designed the Dominion Observatory in 1902.[1]
The new building was then erected near
Victoria, B.C. and it supplanted the Dominion Observatory as Canada's foremost astronomical observatory. 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. Astronomical timekeeping observations at the Dominion Observatory had ceased many years prior to this, when crystal oscillator clocks and, later, atomic clocks were found to be superior to astronomical timekeeping. The building became home to NRCan offices. 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 at the Canada Science and Technology Museum where it remained until 2016.[citation needed
]
As of 2008, the building is the home to the Office of Energy Efficiency, a part of the Energy Branch, Natural Resources Canada.[needs update]
See also
- List of largest optical refracting telescopes
- Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (Home to 2nd largest telescope in the world in the 1910s on debut)
- David Dunlap Observatory (Home to 2nd largest telescope in the world in 1930s on debut)
References
External links
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