PRESS RELEASE

April 14, 2005

For immediate release

Museum Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Dominion Observatory Telescope
Saturday, April 16, 2005 – Activities 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.;
Star Party 8:00-10:30 p.m.

Ottawa — The Canada Science and Technology Museum is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Dominion Observatory telescope this Saturday, April 16, with special activities, a star party and the opening of a small exhibition of early astronomy instruments.

The 15-inch (38-centimetre) refracting telescope was first used when its original home, Ottawa’s Dominion Observatory, opened on April 17, 1905. Scientists continued to study the Sun, stars and nebulae from the observatory for six decades, until it was closed in 1970. The Dominion Observatory was also a centre for magnetic and gravity studies, and was the primary longitude reference in Canada, similar to Greenwich in the United Kingdom.

The Dominion Observatory telescope was moved to the Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory on the grounds of the Canada Science and Technology Museum in 1974, and continues to reveal the wonders of the night sky to many visitors every year.

Activities at Saturday’s 100th Anniversary event, taking place at the museum from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., will include solar observation, workshops on meteors, meteorites and crater impacts, making kitchen comets with dry ice, building sundials, and taking tours of the night sky in the museum’s inflatable planetarium. A star party will be held on the museum grounds from 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. (weather permitting).

The museum is located at 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. and is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed Mondays until April 30). Admission is $6; $3 for children (ages 4-14); $5 for students and seniors; $14 for a family (2 adults and 3 children); children under 4 are free. Plenty of free parking is available on the museum grounds.

General information: Call 613 991-3044 or our Toll free number: 1-866-442-4416.