'Everybody likes astronomy': Looking back at 50 years of Calgary's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory
The Rothney Astrophysical Observatory west of Calgary is celebrating 50 years in operation.
The facility, owned and operated by the faculty of science at the University of Calgary, first opened on Jan. 7, 1972.
"It doesn't seem like 50 years. Not at all," said Dr. Alan Clark, professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The Rothney observatory came to life after Clark was tasked with locating a place for students from the newly established department to observe the night sky.
"We were very lucky. We found a company in Britain to build us our (first) 16-inch telescope. That venerable old instrument that is now remotely controllable from anywhere in the world," said Clark.
"Then we were very, very lucky indeed that when asked, Mr. Sandy Cross provided the land, and not just the one acre we needed, but 160 acres (which the university now owns)."
Cross was given the honour of naming the observatory, and suggested Rothney, his middle name and also his grandmother's name.
Today the observatory houses a 1.8-metre Cassegrain telescope, a 40.5-centimetre Newtonian telescope, and the Baker Nunn telescope, which has a 86.2-centimetre primary mirror with F/1 optics. The Baker Nunn, a Schmidt reflector telescope once used during the Cold War to look for Soviet satellites, now scans the sky for asteroids that may pose a threat to earth.
"With that telescope, almost by accident, one of the technicians, Rob Cardinal, discovered a comet, which now is named in perpetuity Comet Cardinal," said Clark. "A year or so later, he found a second one."
There is also a radio telescope configured for observing the dynamics of the hydrogen gas clouds in the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.
Clark maintains the observatory's biggest contribution to astrophysics is the quality of graduates the program has produced.
"We've got several students who have worked, or still work at the Space Telescope Institute. The premier observatory in the world is run by one of our ex-students," he said.
"Sean Dougherty runs the ALMA telescope on the outer plane in Chile. The director of the Gravitational Wave Observatory is an ex-student of ours."
The current director of the Rothney is Dr. Phil Langill.
Remote controls have been installed on most of the telescopes at the observatory, allowing students to monitor them from off site, and researchers from around the world to control them.
"These remotely controllable telescopes and cameras and detectors are what everybody does. So this is a state of the art observatory," said Langill. "This is the way astronomy is done around the world."
One of Canada’s top science communicators, Langill has made it a goal to use the Rothney as a public outreach tool to educate non-scientists about the night sky.
"The goal should be to get as many people here as possible because it's a really cool place. We do fun science. Everybody likes astronomy," he said.
"I mean, this is where we have all this nerdy scientific stuff, and it's not behind a piece of glass. People can come, and they can see it. They can put their hands on it. We give people the chance to use their eyeballs to see things in the sky."
A recent outreach program called Milky Way Nights aimed to give Calgarians a chance to learn about, and to look into, the depths of our galaxy.
Turnout at the after-midnight event was overwhelming.
"The goal was to see if anybody would come late at night for a couple of nights in the summertime. And we were absolutely slammed," said Langill
"We were slammed. There were more people here for those events than had ever come to the observatory before. (It was) two o'clock in the morning and we're kicking people out because we couldn't get them to leave. That just speaks to the thirst among Calgarians to get back under the stars."
Langil says unfortunately the future looks bright for the Rothney observatory and bright is not what astronomers want near their telescopes.
"What's going to happen in the future? I think it depends a little bit on Calgarians. The city is growing, and our ability to do this discovery, follow-up observations and measurements is getting harder and harder," said Langill.
"I spend a lot of my time as the director now talking to people and reminding people about the stars. If we can get people to re-engage with the sky at night, then they're more cognizant of their choices about what kind of lights they use, in the hopes of keeping the skies a little bit darker. If I can get people interested in that idea - that prolongs the life of the observatory."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada sending more artillery to Ukraine, 'crucial' to fight against Russia: Anand
Canada is sending an additional 20,000 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine for the Ukrainian military to use in its ongoing defence against the Russians. This ammunition—155mm calibre, as well as fuses and charge bags—is being donated, but comes at a cost of $98 million, according to the federal government.

BREAKING | Language law Bill 96 adopted, promising sweeping changes for Quebec
Bill 96, the provincial government's controversial legislation aimed at protecting the French language in Quebec, has been adopted in the National Assembly.
15 killed in school shooting, including gunman: Texas governor
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 15 people were killed in a shooting Tuesday at an elementary school. Abbott says the suspected shooter, an 18-year-old man, also died and was believed to be killed by responding officers.
Ottawa to release findings of military sexual misconduct report in 'coming days'
The findings of a highly-anticipated report about how to tackle sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will be made public in the 'coming days,' a spokesperson for Defence Minister Anita Anand says.
Power outages persist across Ontario and Quebec as death toll rises
Power outages caused by the powerful and deadly storm that swept across Ontario and Quebec on Saturday are stretching into another day, as hydro providers warned customers they could be waiting even longer for service to be fully restored.
Experts hope 'ring vaccination' will contain monkeypox outbreaks
An infectious disease expert believes monkeypox outbreaks can be contained by using a strategy called 'ring vaccination' – which means vaccinating all the close contacts of an infected person.
Baby formula: Health Canada monitoring 'potential' sunflower oil shortage
Health Canada says it is preparing for the possibility that a shortage of sunflower oil could further strain baby formula supplies in Canada.
Satellite images appear to show Russian ships loading up with Ukrainian grain in Crimea
Russia's theft of Ukrainian grain appears to be ramping up as it continues its war on the country, according to new satellite photos of the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
Mapping program Mounties struggled to open could have helped contain N.S. mass killer
A report looking into a mapping program the RCMP had access to -- but couldn't open -- during the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia concludes it could have helped contain the killer's rampage.