The UVIC Observatory is home to a 0.8 meter telescope, the largest telescope on any Canadian University campus! Every Wednesday Night throughout the academic year (September to April, with the exception of December 6th to January 10th for winter holidays), we host a FREE open house on the 5th floor of the Bob Wright Centre. This means that anyone can stop by between 8pm and 10pm to look through ou
r telescope at some of the wonders our universe has to offer. We also offer views through our array of smaller telescopes and teach constellation stories so you can learn the map of the sky! On cloudy nights, stop by and ask our team of students any astronomy related questions you might have and see some of the cutting-edge technology we have to study space! We also host Open House nights for big events in the sky such as Solar and Lunar Eclipses, planetary transits, and visible comets. Check this page in the future for known events!
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Attention Teachers!
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We offer FREE day time astronomy tours for classes of all ages. These one hour experiences are hosted at UVIC’s main observatory on the roof of the Bob Wright Centre. Each tour is broken into 3 sections:
1. Ask an astronomer question/answer period: Your students will be able to interact with professional astronomers, asking either prepared or “on the spot” questions relating to the cosmos. No topic is too big, we have had many fruitful discussions life in the universe, black holes, the formation of stars and planets, technology and instrumentation, and much more!
2. If the sun is out that day, we can make use of our solar telescope. This telescope is designed to look directly at the sun, projecting an image for all the students to see. We can pick out sunspots, show the students where sunspots come from, and even light pencils on fire with the power of the sun. If the sky is not clear that day, we have an array of telescopes which we use to teach the students about optics and how we gather information from space.
3. The highlight is a tour of our new 32 inch telescope - the largest on any Canadian University Campus! In this section, students get to press all the buttons to move our massive telescope and point it toward venus. They will spin the dome on the roof, have hands on the technology, and learn about our sister planet. In our experience, students from kindergarten through high school have a blast! We adjust the level of the tour to the specific age group visiting our observatory and we are highly flexible. Night tours are also available, but they need to be planned for when the sky is clear. We have also held tours for the Girl Guides of Canada, Scouts Canada, and Spiritual groups.
