What a great night to visit the Dominion observatory. I know I’ve been there before, but really don’t remember when it was I was last on top of Little Saanich Mountain. You can see the main observatory dome from many places in Victoria, and it’s always just kind of been something that’s “there”. Tonight, the last night of my summer vacation (5 days, woo!) we took the trip up the hill.
I’d always been into astronomy when I was a kid, and I think most kids go through a phase in their life when they want to be either an astronaut or an astronomer. I went with astronomer, it just seemed so much more attainable for some reason. Humans have been looking up at the stars and planets for thousands and thousands of years, clearly astronomy is ingrained in all of us.
Bryn was playing with his little telescope last night before bed, but we really couldn’t see much with all the city lights and the buildings in the way, plus it’s just a toy. We got to fiddle with a couple nice backyard telescopes tonight, and if Bryn asks me for a better telescope, I’d probably be happy to oblige!
It was really great to get out of the city for a few hours into the summer evening, and this place is really money well spent. $35 for a family after 6:30 pm, and you get to play with some telescopes, enjoy a really trippy planetarium experience, enjoy the excellent guides they have up there and sit in the big dome while they point that massive 1.8m Plaskett telescope to some really deep space objects.
It was built so well and so precisely that all of the major components are original. The balance is so tight that the 90 tonne monster is moved with only a single horsepower electric motor, and it tracked the stars using a frigging CLOCK until 1991 because it worked so well. Upon it’s completion, it was the biggest telescope in the world, and is booked by scientists from all over the world every clear night. When everything built today is so disposable, it’s really great to see something almost 100 years old still so vibrant and relevant.
Here are some photos – you can check out my Facebook page for a couple grainy videos, too.
Kewl - 92 Years Young!
Up, Up and Away!
The Telescope Is About 43 Tonnes, With a 40 Tonne Counterweight
Getting the Gears
You Can Say That Again!
Good Thing They Have Stairs
The Thing Runs On Linux - No Surprise!
Rack Mount Science
Too Bad There's No Plaskett Comet!
Planet-arium!
I Took This By Shoving My Camera Into the Eye Piece!
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