Dominion Observatory
| Dominion Observatory Observatoire fédéral |
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|---|---|
 Lieu patrimonial du Canada |
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| Recognized since | December 10, 1992 |
| Type | Classified Federal Heritage Building |
| ID | 4376 |
| place | Ottawa |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 23 '36.9 " N , 75 ° 42' 51.6" W |
| Recognized by | Government of Canada |
| Approved by | Treasury Board Heritage Buildings Policy |
| Entry Canadian List of Monuments | |
The Dominion Observatory ( French Observatoire fédéral ) was an observatory in Ottawa , in the Canadian province of Ontario , which was operated in the years 1902-1970. It was an institution of the Government of Canada . The observatory emerged from the Department of the Interior's need for precise coordinates and time, which at that time could only be determined by an observatory. Before that, a small observatory on the Ottawa River was used for this purpose for a few years . In 1902 it was decided that Canada should get a larger state observatory , similar to the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England.
The new building was erected near Dow's Lake on land belonging to the Department of Agriculture's Central Experimental Farm . The building, designed in the neo-romantic style by the architect David Ewart , was completed in 1905. The main instrument is a 15-inch telescope , the largest lens telescope ever built in Canada, although it was not a particularly large telescope at the time. Although the facility was primarily devoted to astronomical timekeeping, a number of other activities also took place. The Dominion Observatory was Canada's leading institute in geophysics for many decades , including the operation of the Canadian seismometer network . Significant work in the field of astronomy resulted in a bridgehead, the desire for an observatory dedicated to all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics . The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, BC , completed in 1917, fulfilled this wish and replaced the Dominion Observatory as Canada's leading observatory with what was then the world's second largest telescope. For many years, the Dominion Observatory was known to Canadians as the origin of the official time signal.
The observatory was in operation until the Canadian scientific institutes were reorganized in 1970, although astronomical timekeeping was discontinued earlier with the advent of quartz and atomic clocks . State time signals and astronomical activities were assigned to the National Research Council of Canada , and geophysics, geological exploration and mapping were incorporated into the Department of Energy Mines and Resources , later Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). The building of the observatory will be used for offices of the NRCan, from 2008 for the Office of Energy Efficiency. The telescope was moved to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in 1974 , where it remained until 2016.
In 1992 the building was placed under monument protection by the federal government.