Use
Following completion, Plaskett remained the head of the observatory until 1935.
A spectrograph is fitted to the Cassegrain focus and an imaging CCD is attached to the Newtonian focus.
In 1962, a 48" optical telescope was added to the observatory. The telescope, ordered in 1957, was made by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Its Coude focus is used with a room sized specrograph.
In 1995, the observatory was made the headquarters of the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, which operates several Canadian telescopes, both optical and radio, as well as shares in international telescopes, such as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
The telescopes are in constant use today and are open for visitors year round. An interpretive centre called the Centre of the Universe was opened in 2002.
As of July 2009, the current director was Dr James E Hesser.
Read more about this topic: Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
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