Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory

Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory

The Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory is a historical observatory located on the grounds of the University of Toronto. The observatory is considered the birthplace of Canadian astronomy. The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project run by Edward Sabine to determine the cause of fluctuations in magnetic declination. Measurements from the Toronto site demonstrated that sunspots were responsible for this effect on Earth’s magnetic field.

About Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory in brief

Summary Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological ObservatoryThe Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory is a historical observatory located on the grounds of the University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The observatory is considered the birthplace of Canadian astronomy. The original building was constructed in 1840 as part of a worldwide research project run by Edward Sabine to determine the cause of fluctuations in magnetic declination. Measurements from the Toronto site demonstrated that sunspots were responsible for this effect on Earth’s magnetic field. When this project concluded in 1853, the observatory was greatly expanded by the Canadian government and served as the country’s primary meteorological station and official timekeeper for over fifty years. It is located on 10 acres of land to the west of King’s College; the Ontario Legislature now occupies the area on which the college was located. The team assigned to Canada originally planned to build their observatory on Saint Helen’s Island off Montreal, but the local rocks proved to have a high magnetic influence, and the decision was made to move to Toronto instead. In 1839 the British Government and the Royal Society prepared four expeditions to build magnetic observation stations in Cape Town; St.

Helena; Hobart, Tasmania and Toronto. The first measurements were published in 1838. The second in 1851, was correlated with Heinrich Schwabe’s sunspot measurements, which had been made widely available. The third and conclusive paper on the topic in 1856, was a study of the Larger Magnetic Disturbances in the Earth’s Magnetic Mean Mean in which he singled out Toronto for particular praise. He was able to demonstrate conclusively that the eleven-year sunspot cycle caused a periodic periodic variation in the magnetic field in Earth’s field. The data collected from the site were used to prove the existence of the solar system and the formation of the planets of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Neptune. The site is now home to the Museum of Astronomy and Astrophysics, which was founded by Sir Henry Lefroy in 1858. The museum is located in the heart of Toronto and is open to the public. It has a collection of early photographs of the Earth, including some of the first images of the sun. The Toronto site is also home to a small conical dome which contained a theodolite used to make astronomical measurements for the accurate determination of local time.