General Information

Serial #

38783

Part Number

1

Total Parts

36

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Metal body and parts/ Metal mount for plates with synthetic (plexi-glass) windows (not original)/ Metal and synthetic controls/ Glass optical elements/ Synthetic cord covering and parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

142.0 cm

Width

100.0 cm

Height

70.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Astronomy

Category

Research

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Zeiss

Country

German Democratic Republic

State/Province

Unknown

City

Jena

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

Unknown

Canada

An instrument used at the David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto, one of Canada's most important astronomical observatories. The David Dunlap Observatory opened in 1935 as the result of a bequest from the wife of David Dunlap. The telescope was a 74 inch (188 cm) reflector built by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. The 74 inch was then the largest telescope in Canada (surpassing the 72 inch telescope of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria) and became the second largest in the world after the 100 inch Hooker Telescope of the Mt. Wilson Observatory outside Los Angeles. DDO's reputation grew and following WWII, it began to graduate most of the astronomers produced in Canada with University of Western Ontario far behind. Beginning in the 1960s a number of other astronomy departments were created but UofT/DDO held its place, a position it probably still holds. The DDO had a good technical staff which gave them an advantage and, with most of the 1940s to early 1970s top astronomers coming from UofT, grants from NRC and then ENSERC were almost guaranteed and allowed UofT's top astronomers -- Hogg, van den Berg, Fernie, Bolton, Kamper, Martin, etc. to acquire or build some of the best equipment available in university observatories. For optical observatories, only the DAO had technical staff and budgets that surpassed those of DDO. In 2007, citing increasing light pollution, the University of Toronto announced plans to sell the Observatory property. In June 2008, it was sold to Corsica Development Inc., a subsidiary of Metrus Development Inc. and the Observatory was closed. In 2009 the Observatory buildings and 80% of the site were designated a cultural heritage landscape. Also in 2009 Corsica and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Toronto Centre announced an agreement allowing the RASC to provide public education and outreach programs at the observatory, and to operate the 188 cm telescope.

Function

A blink comparator is an astronomical instrument that shows in rapid succession two images of the same region of the sky taken at different times. It switches back and forth between the two photographs, allowing the user to more easily spot objects in the night sky that have changed position (Refs. 3-4)

Technical

This instrument was used by Drs. Karl Kamper and Sidney van den Burgh of DDO to inspect images from the 48 inch Mt. Palomar Schmidt camera. The discovery of the asteroid Toronto was made with this machine. Kamper also used it to study the expansion of the Cas A [Cassiopeia A] supernova which was a significant achievement. The blink comparator was developed at Carl Zeiss in 1904 and was a major advance in astronomical instrumentation. The comparator showed in rapid succession two images of the same region of the sky taken at different times. Their change in position made celestial bodies stand out in the foreground, thus simplifying the search considerably. One major discovery made with a Zeiss blink comparator was that of Pluto, in 1930 at Lovell Observatory in Arizona. The Toronto asteroid [Toronto 2104 1963 AD FPC 4645] was discovered on August 15 1963 by K. Kamper at Tauten berg. This minor planet, the first to be found at a Canadian Observatory, is named in honour of University of Toronto, during whose sesquicentennial celebration it was discovered, to acknowledge the central role played by the university in the development of astronomy in Canada. This planet was detected at the David Dunlap Observatory on plates taken by Sidney Van den Bergh at the Tautenberg Observatory, East Germany.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Black lettering on front reads 'JENA/ 38783/ GERMANY'/ Black lettering for control functions

Missing

Unknown

Finish

Glossy pale green painted body and parts/ Glossy medium blue painted plate frame with colourless transparent windows/ Black painted controls and parts/ Metallic grey controls and parts / Black synthetic controls/ Red and blue lenses/ Colourless transparent glass optical elements/ White glass lamp covers/ Black electrical cord

Decoration

N/A