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19
Spr ing 2012
Escarpment Magaz ine
This project came together after an agreement was passed between
the Board of Ed. and BAS to build a permanent observatory on the site.
Next they had to garner funding. As it turned out, E. S. Fox Construction
was celebrating their 25
th
anniversary and wanted to find a project that
they could pass on to the community. With the generous help of E.S.
Fox and many other donations, the observatory became a reality.
E.S. Fox not only donated money to the project but performed ‘in-kind’
work as well, to finish the project. The facility is a roll-off roof structure,
which means the entire roof is motorized and on wheels so it can roll
along steel tracks for viewing (the Rogers Centre works on a similar
principal).
When the roof is open in winter it can get mighty cold, so there is also
a warm-up room adjacent to the actual observatory. Not only does it
house the permanent refractor telescope from Guelph but there are a
number of portable 8” and 10” telescopes so more then one person
can view the stars at the same time. Some of these units were donated
to the facility while others belong to members of BAS.
*
John Hlynialuk observing the night sky at E.S. Fox