0: DDO Walking Tour Ver detalle |
1: Yellow Birch and Spring Ver detalle |
2: North forest trail Ver detalle |
3: Line 5 Ver detalle |
4: Meadow and Orchard Trail Ver detalle |
5: DDO Gate Ver detalle |
6: Buildings come into view Ver detalle |
7: Sundial Ver detalle |
8: Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Ver detalle |
9: Radio Astronomy and Ham Radio Ver detalle |
10: Regenerating farmfields... Ver detalle |
11: Entering the forest Ver detalle |
12: Avenue of trees Ver detalle |
13: North east meadow Ver detalle |
14: Across the hedgerow Ver detalle |
15: Look east toward Bayview Ver detalle |
16: Back view of Administration Building and Dome Ver detalle |
17: Yellow Beech and Spring Trail Ver detalle |
18: Old Observatory Lane Ver detalle |
19: Elmslea Ver detalle |
20: Observatory Gate House Ver detalle |
21: North forest walk Ver detalle |
22: Pileated Woodpecker Ver detalle |
23: Deer grazing Ver detalle |
24: Reptiles in the sun Ver detalle |
25: Northern Mockingbird Ver detalle |
26: Winter Robins Ver detalle |
27: Crossing the tracks Ver detalle |
28: Butterflies and other pollinators Ver detalle |
29: Radio Telescope foundations Ver detalle |
30: Winter view of Dome and Administration building Ver detalle |
31: The Administration Building Ver detalle |
32: The Great Dome Ver detalle |
33: Dunlap Deer Ver detalle |
34: Warbler woods Ver detalle |
35: Mushroom "Fairy Ring" Ver detalle |
36: Setting sun through the trees Ver detalle |
Walk up a quiet tree-lined lane toward the dome and administration buildings. The trees at the edge can be haven for birds: robins and other thrushes, Northern Flicker, Downy woodpecker, nuthatches and migrant warblers.
As you round the corner, the Dome and Administration buildings come into view.
Given to C.A. Chant by Donalda Dunlap -- and identical sundial can be found at Donalda Farms.
RASC members regularly bring a range of telescopes to the DDO to treat themselves and the public to views of the moon, planets, comets and other celestial objects.
Follow footpaths made by deer and hikers through fields which still undulate with rows of old furrows. This habitat provides home for field mice and voles which feed red tail and coopers hawks and other raptors.
Here you are close to the centre of the DDO park. The sound of the city is muted.
Here the trail turns north through on of the U of T Faculty of Forestry plantations. Look around for white wash on the trees or small bones and fur on forest floor. There may be owls dozing in the branches above your head. This Barred Owl was first seen at the edge of the forest on Nov 10, 2007.
We walk along an avenue of evergreens that is only interrupted by the occasional fallen branch. In the fall dozens of robins and chickadees gather in these woods.
Exit the forest into an open meadow that is frequented by deer. We'll turn west back toward the observatory.
Hidden by long grasses, the furrows in this field will trip you if you aren't careful.
Look east and a line of houses on the east side of Bayview will stretch across much of the horizon. You are standing in spot favoured by deer. As you look toward Bayview, you see what they see.
If you are here in late afernoon, the light slanting across the dome can be quite striking and creates the illusion that the dome is ever changing.
Found in this clump of trees in the north-west field.
Pedestrians can cross the tracks onto Hillsview Drive to visit DDO.
DDO is home to (at least) several dozen species of butterflies.
In addition to its optical program, the David Dunlap Observatory park in Richmond Hill was the site of some of the first radio astronomy research done in Canada. The antennae are no longer there, but many of the concrete bases are still sitting in the field just east of the main administration building. The first dishes at the DDO were installed in 1956 under the direction of University of Toronto astronomer, Don MacRae. The radio work done at DDO included the determination of "the absolute flux density of Cassiopia A at 320 Mhz" -- an important radiometric standard that helped pave the way for more advanced radio astronomy.
The Dunlap property is a migratory stop-over for dozens of bird species. In spring and fall, watch for a wide variety of warblers and thrushes. Woodpeckers, owls, hawks and many other species are found year round.