Construction crews have finally broken ground for the Trottier Observatory, a $4.4 million project on SFU’s Burnaby campus dedicated to engaging the community and its youth in science.
According to Howard Trottier, an SFU professor of physics whose brother and sister-in-law have provided the funding for the project, the observatory and its surroundings are meant to be a “focal point of campus life.”
The building is expected to be completed sometime in February or March 2015.
Trottier, who has worked in the physics department for over 20 years, has been an integral part of the observatory’s development and creation. However, this project is not one man’s work. The original proponents of the observatory imagined its opening alongside of Simon Fraser University back in the 1960s. The idea had bounced around between different professors and community members since then, before finally being set into motion over the past few years.
An integral part of the project expands outside the walls of the observatory itself, something many community members are not yet aware of. The observatory is being built in conjunction with the Science Courtyard, which is meant to benefit everyone in the SFU community and greater area.
The Science Courtyard will include a community table, with room for two more tables to be added later on. These tables will have room for groups of 20, ideal for hosting groups of friends — when weather permits — to enjoy the sights, and perhaps small classes who opt to learn outdoors from time to time.
The area will offer many other astronomy attractions besides the main telescope within the observatory, which will be nestled between the AQ and Strand Hall. There will be two eight-foot tall concrete barriers, creating a sort of tunnel reminiscent of ancient observatories, through which attendees can view the stars. There will be star charts for each of the four seasons on the inside of these barriers, with the smaller and fainter stars etched into its surface, and LED lights illuminating the larger and brighter stars.
There will also be a few smaller telescopes scattered around the site, which people can also use to see the star formations, as well as a sundial.
Another interesting architectural design for the space manifests in the long concrete bench that runs along the entire site, divided into six sections. Each division will put out a faint light representing the electromagnetic spectrum and six of the different elements, and will also be spaced to show the powers of 10. From the atom to the horizon of the atmosphere, the bench will also show the scales of important structures in the universe.
Trottier emphasized that the observatory will be open and inviting to all, within and without of the SFU community on Burnaby Mountain.
Science in Action, for example, is a school program for all young students in the area led by SFU professor of chemistry Sophie Lavieri. With this new observatory, SFU programs such as this will be able to branch out into the province, giving schools the opportunity to enter project contests and win the chance to control the observatory telescope, all virtually from within their own school walls.
For Trottier, the most important part of the observatory is that it will foster a personal connection between students and their universe. “If you’ve experienced science, you feel you are a part of it,” he concluded.
The grand opening of the SFU Trottier Observatory is slotted for sometime in May, but the goal is for the space to be functional as soon as it is completed early this spring.
