David Dunlap Observatory

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Telescopes
David Dunlap Observatory
The 1.88-metre telescope at the David Dunlap Observatory
Organization:	University of Toronto
Location:	Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates:	43°51.8′N, 79°25.3′W
Altitude:	224 m (735 ft)
Weather:	67% clear nights^[1]
Established:	May 31, 1935
Website:	astro.utoronto.ca/DDO/
Telescope 1:	1.88 m reflector
Telescope 2:	0.6 m Cassegrain
Telescope 3:	0.5 m Cassegrain

The David Dunlap Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, owned by the University of Toronto and operated by its Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is the site of the largest optical telescope in Canada.

The observatory, founded in 1935, was a gift to the university from Jessie Donalda Dunlap as a memorial for her husband, David Alexander Dunlap. It was planned in consultation with astronomer Clarence Chant, the observatory's first director, who had long hoped to establish a world-class astronomical facility in Canada. The selected site was a farm property located 25 kilometres north of the university's downtown Toronto campus. The original pre-Confederation farmhouse became the residence for the director.

At the time of its construction, the 1.88-metre telescope was the second-largest in the world. Soon after the observatory opened, a 0.5-metre Cassegrain reflector telescope was built on top of the administration building. In 1965, another Cassegrain telescope measuring 0.6 metres was installed.

C. Thomas Bolton, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Toronto, published the first identification of a black hole from his observation of Cygnus X-1 at the observatory.