Astronomical observations in northern Canada

几十年来，加拿大天文学家一直从智利和夏威夷获得观测数据，因为这些地点被认为是世界上最适合天文观测的地点。特别是，这些位置似乎有非常少的大气湍流，导致出色的图像质量。因此，一些初步证据表明，加拿大北方的埃尔斯米尔岛可能拥有至少与智利和夏威夷最好的景点一样好的图像，这是非常令人兴奋的。加拿大拥有世界上最好的天文观测站吗？为了找到答案，多伦多大学邓拉普天文和天体物理研究所已经开始建造一个探路者北极观测站。该提案寻求资助学生和博士后前往该观测站，并建造小型仪器，以更好地了解观测站的质量。

For decades Canadian astronomers have obtained their observations from Chile and Hawaii because sites in these locations have been assumed to be the best in the world for astronomical observations. In particular, these locations appear to have very little atmospheric turbulence, leading to outstanding image quality. It is therefore extraordinarily exciting that some preliminary evidence has emerged which suggests that Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada may have images at least as good as the best sites in Chile and Hawaii. Does Canada host the world's finest astronomical observing site? In order to find out, the University of Toronto's Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics has begun construction of a pathfinder arctic observatory. This proposal seeks funding for student and postdoctoral travel to this observatory, and for the construction of small-scale instrumentation to better understand the quality of the observing site.