Astronomy from Coast to Coast to Coast

• Main Author: Steinbring, Eric
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2018
• Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics astro-ph.IM; FOS Physical sciences; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Nunavut; Ellesmere Island; Canada; Greenland; Pacific; North Pole; British Columbia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1801.02721; https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.02721

Canada is a triangle-shaped country, roughly speaking. We all know that the Atlantic Ocean is at its eastern corner in the Maritimes, and off the west coast of British Columbia is the Pacific Ocean. The Arctic Ocean, however, makes up the bulk of Canada's coastline, along its pointy "top." That peaks closest to the North Pole in Nunavut, on the shores of Ellesmere Island. Running down this island, as on our western flank in the Rockies, is a range of permanently snowcapped mountains, with one topping 2600 m. It is a propitious geography, which along with that of northern Greenland, provides plenty of ice-locked, and windward, elevated coastal terrain; potentially perfect for astronomy. Actually, these mountains are about the same distance from either Halifax or Victoria (or Halifax to Victoria) as Victoria is from the amazing 4200-m summit of Maunakea, on the Big Island of Hawai'i - although they are not as easily reached. : 4 pages, 1 figure. This article is based on the Ruth Northcott Memorial Public Lecture given 1 July 2017, on the occasion of Canada Day 150 during the RASC GA in Ottawa