UVic gets new eye in the sky

The telescope installed this month on the roof of UVic’s new science building is the largest telescope located on a university campus in Canada.Telescopes are rated by the size of their mirrors, which determine how much light they can gather. This one boasts a 0.8-metre mirror—making it the country’s fifth largest overall—and is housed in a 6.25-metre observatory dome capable of hosting 20 students at a time.

Built by DFM Engineering in Colorado, the $700,000 telescope will be used for teaching undergraduate students and for research.

“We’ll be using it to look for asteroids passing close to Earth and for planets crossing in front of stars,” says Russell Robb, senior lab instructor and senior scientific assistant in UVic’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The telescope will also be available to the public on Wednesday nights, starting in the fall. UVic astronomers are world-renowned for their research the formation of galaxies, stellar structure and evolution, and theoretical and observational cosmology.