David Dunlap Observatory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

</tr>

**David Dunlap Observatory**
Image:Dunlap Observatory.jpg
Organization	University of Toronto
Established	May 31, 1935
Location	Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates	43°51.8′N 79°25.3′W
Altitude	224 m (735 ft)
Weather	67% clear nights^[1]
Website	astro.utoronto.ca/DDO/
Telescopes
1.88 m reflector
0.6 m Cassegrain
0.5 m Cassegrain

The David Dunlap Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, owned by the University of Toronto and operated by its Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is the site of the largest optical telescope in Canada.

The observatory, founded in 1935, was a gift to the university from Jessie Donalda Dunlap as a memorial for her husband, David Alexander Dunlap. It was planned in consultation with astronomer Clarence Chant, the observatory's first director, who had long hoped to establish a world-class astronomical facility in Canada. The selected site was a farm property located 25 kilometres north of the university's downtown Toronto campus. The original pre-Confederation farmhouse became the residence for the director.

At the time of its construction, the 1.88-metre telescope was the second-largest in the world. Soon after the observatory opened, a 0.5-metre Cassegrain reflector telescope was built on top of the administration building. In 1965, another Cassegrain telescope measuring 0.6 metres was installed.

C. Thomas Bolton, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Toronto, published the first identification of a black hole from his observation of Cygnus X-1 at the observatory.

Image:Dunlap Observatory Administration Building.jpg