Algonquin Radio Observatory

Located on 100 acres in the North of Algonquin park on Lake Travers, ARO's 46m antenna is the second largest radio telescope in North America. Completed in the 1960s, ARO is Canada's national radio observatory. Operating at radio frequency, the giant parabolic dish focuses electromagnetic radiation towards the focus cabin mounted on three legs above the surface. The efficiency gained by the large reflecting surface enables the telescope to receive signals from Mars and to determine precisely the location of the telescope with respect to Pulsars in neighboring star systems. ARO was the first observatory to demonstrate VLBI, a technology that measures continental drift and provides other high precision geodetic data. 

Thoth's Space Tracking and Navigation Division commenced operation of the ARO site January 8, 2008.

Picture Gallery

The 46 m.

Lake Travers.

2007

Inside the dish.

The focus cabin.

The Staff House

With separate accommodation for 22 the staff house is located on Site 2 overlooking the lake to the North.

The staff house (front).

The staff house (side).

The dining room.

Staff house kitchen.

Typical Room 1.

The office.

Typical room 2.

The library.

View from Library.

Other Site2 Buildings

Main garage.

Second garage.

Communications building (VHF telephone).

The site 2 generator house.

A hut.

A hanger with Algonquin Forestry Association caravan and mobile.

Site 3 Buildings

Back to the Antenna.

The telescope control building.

The control building from the back.

The generator house supplies a peak power of 300 KW when hydro service is interrupted.

The metal shop.

The 11m telescope and control house.

The NRCan Active Control Point with 11m telescope in the background.

Those pesky Ladybugs...

Government closure of the site in 2006 was precipitated by a drive failure caused by a swarm of ladybugs that nested in the azimuth drive system. This system is now refurbished and the telescope is again fully operational. 

The Hydrogen Maser (Atomic Clock)

ARO has an on site atomic clock that reports UTC time according to modern reference standards. This information is correlated with Radio and GPS data in order to determine precisely the geodetic location of Canada. 

1990s

Many pictures from the earlier times have been preserved. Here is one of them.