Historical Park’s observatory now up and running

THUNDER BAY – If David Thompson could see the newly-opened observatory at Fort William Historical Park, he might have a lot of sleepless nights, said Anthony Marrelli.

The David Thompson Astronomical Observatory is now open to the public at the Fort and Marrelli, the education and lifelong learning co-ordinator said the British-Canadian explorer, who mapped 3.9 million square kilometres of North America in the 19th century, would be impressed at the brand new facility.

“The furthest away object we’ve seen so far is about 24.5 million light years away,” he said, referring to the M51 galaxy.

“It’s an amazing object to see. It’s one of the most powerful telescopes in midwestern Canada,” Marrelli said.

The facility is open to the public every evening starting at 7:30 p.m. and FWHP general manager Sergio Buonocore said they plan on introducing programming with Lakehead University, Confederation College and the local school boards.

“The image from the telescope is piped into this brand new building and it’s all on the big screen,” said Buonocore.

“So if it’s a very cold evening, you don’t actually have to be outside. You can sit in this classroom-type facility. Look at the stars and explore the universe.”

The project is a joint venture between the Fort and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Buonocore said the Fort’s function is to bring tourists to the region and with all the other activities at the park, which include kayaking, canoeing, RV camping and the Living History program, the observatory was a good fit.

“We saw that astronomical tourism is a high growth area all across the world and as the population is aging, there is more and more demand for this product,” he said. “It fit very nicely with all the other products we have here at the Fort.”

For more information on the David Thompson Astronomical Observatory visit www.fwhp.ca