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MHO --- The Madawaska Highlands Observatory - Core
objective is to give its guests the 'Experience of Infinity'.
This is achieved with the largest Visitors telescopes in the world,
1 meter - 40", coupled with an extremely dark night sky as
our ancestors would have seen before the advent of the light bulb.
Topped off with a world-class Visitors Centre and tourist facility,
off-grid and self-sustaining LEED Platinum. This ultimate combination
of sky and telescope will allow guests to experience galaxies
billions of light years way; in effect experiencing the infinite
universe.
The facility will host the most powerful telescope in Canada.
The One-Metre wide-field telescope (WFT) will carry out world
leading research and important discoveries are expected from the
technologically very advanced and innovative telescope design.
Key Instruments:
Dedicated Visitor Telescopes:
- 30"
f/2.5 for star nights, low profile not requiring a step ladder
- 40" f/3 Visitors Telescopes, folded design not requiring
a step ladder
Science and Imaging Telescopes:
- 1.0
metre f/2.4 five square degrees field of view telescope [25x
full moons]
- 1.0
metre f/7 Ritchey–Chrétien, dual Nasmyth foci,
with f/5-f/10 optics
Madawaska Highlands
The setting in the spectacular Madawaska Highlands of Ontario,
offers an unparalleled vista in southern Canada; a natural sky
free of artificial light with a stunning view of the Milky Way
with its massive bulge covering half the southern sky and casts
a distinct shadow where over 10,000 stars are visible to the unaided
eyes.
The night sky is one the most beautiful and profound spectacles
ever to be experienced.
The
Visitor Centre:
The Madawaska Highlands Observatory Corp. core objective is giving
its guests the 'Experience of Infinity'. The setting and offerings
are chosen and designed to be world-class and deliver an unrivaled
experience. We believe that the MHO will be the premiere facility
of type in terms of the guest offerings in the world.
Indeed the facility will offer a completely REAL and unpretentious
direct experience of the infinite universe. The facility is set
under an extremely spectacular night sky with the bulge of our
Galaxy, the Milky Way, with its trillion stars readily visible
and actually casting a shadow.
The facility will host 1-meter [40"] dedicated visitor telescopes,
the largest in the world. Visitors will be able to view first
hand, galaxies several billion light years away. The combination
of an extraordinary dark sky and very high quality 1-meter telescopes
will give very spectacular views of the universe.
These 1 meter telescopes will deliver the best visual telescopic
views of the universe in the world. The views will be significantly
better than telescopes twice their size due to their state-of-the-art
design, extremely dark night sky, topographic and site setting.
Some unique technologies will be used for extremely high resolution
views of the planets with the 1-m visitors' telescopes; this is
expected to be extremely popular with visitors. These views of
the planets will likely be the most detailed and spectacular one
could expect in a lifetime, and will to be a highlight of any
visit to the facility.
The facility will have guided tours of the most powerful telescope
in Canada, the Visitor's Centre and the visitor telescopes. The
Visitor Centre will host several display areas for astronomy,
cosmology and a 140-seat HD theater where professional astronomers
will be invited to speak on research conducted at the facility
as well as recent developments in astronomy. It will also include
a boutique, snack bar and washroom facilities. The Visitor Centre
will also contain the telescope control room and large LED displays
with spectacular images taken at the facility, a 'live' 4K displays
will show recent images.
The facility will offer evening twilight introductory presentations
in the amphitheater and 'star parties' during the April - October
time frames with supplied 30" low profile telescopes. In
the summer the facility can host a large star festival with room
several for thousand under an impressive night sky.
The facility will be open most days of the year with the telescopes
available every clear night, typically 2.5-nights a week. The
programs will include guided views through the 40" telescope
in group sizes of 20 maximum lasting 3+ hours, single sessions
in May-July, due to the short night and 2 sessions the rest of
the year. The 40" and 30" telescope will be available
for individuals or small groups to rent out for the entire night.
Winter viewing will be possible with heated clothing-gloves-boots
and large telescope rentals for those staying at the one-site
campground. The facility will be setup to accommodate groups for
daytime and evening visits.
We are are offering naming rights and VIP privileges see here
for more information.
The Wide-Field Science Telescope:
The facility will host the most powerful telescope in Canada,
constructed of carbon fiber and using the largest monolithic digital
camera in the world along with a host of advanced technologies,
materials, active optics and optimized topologies designed to
deliver the utmost performance from the telescope. The telescopes'
outstanding feature is a monolithic highly corrected extremely
large field-of-view of 5 square degrees - 25X that of the full
moon! This opens up a large range of science possibilities including
discovering new planets, even possibly Earth like planets and
becoming a very valuable tool for astronomers in Canada and the
world. The Madawaska Highlands observatory will be the only major
observatory in Canada with valuable telescope time open to the
general public, including schools, teachers, students, instructors,
amateur astronomers and the like.
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