Astronomy in the Canadian ArcticCopyright: Wayne Ngan; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto
Ellesmere Island, at 80 degrees North in the Canadian High Arctic, is a unique observatory site. At this polar location, the sun is below the horizon throughout the winter, and the 24 hour darkness greatly increases the efficiency of many types of astronomical surveys. Taken in February 2012 by researchers testing the observing conditions at the site, the picture shows a fisheye view of the sky as seen from the roof top of the Ridge Laboratory, an Environment-Canada atmospheric research laboratory located on a 600m-high ridge about 15 km from Eureka, Nunavut. Jupiter and Venus are visible in the middle of the frame. Just outside the image, the researchers deployed two wide field cameras as part of a
pioneering survey by
Dunlap Institute to search for transiting exoplanets around very bright stars near the North Celestial Pole.