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OMI --- The One Metre Initiative -- is a state-of-the-art
telescope design for a wide-field autonomous imaging facility,
set to become the most powerful telescope on Canadian soil. The
One Metre Initiative will also be one the most powerful wide-field
telescopes in the world!
The One Meter Initiative grew out of a passion for the night
sky, a deep interest in engineering and a desire to make a significant
contribution to our understanding of the universe. The idea of
building a world class telescope materialized in the fall of 2007.
The OMI will be located in the Madawaska Highlands and has the
darkest night skies in southern Canada, where an horizon-horizon
Milky Way cast a shadow and some 10,000 stars can be seen with
the unaided eye! The OMI as been described as "Very Impressive"
by René Racine, Canada's most prominent astronomer and "Extremely
Impressive" by Neil Turok, Scientific Director at the Perimeter
Institute of Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. The ability to image
very deep, very wide and vary fast gives it a performance unmatched
by any one-metre class in the world. Indeed the OMI will be capable
of outperforming much larger instruments including all Canadian
based telescopes. The OMI will become a valuable asset to professional
astronomers.
The OMI has sufficient performance to make contributions across
many areas of astronomy and astrophysics. Such as cosmology where
its ability to image very wide and deep will permit the discovery
of a large number of high-z type 1a supernovae, a crucial measuring
candle. The search for Near-Earth-Asteroids is another area where
the OMI's large Field of View (FOV), deep limiting magnitude and
fast download times could detect many small asteroids. Indeed
the OMI is extremely well suited to this task. Another very exiting
area of research is the detection of Earth-Sized planets orbiting
nearby red-dwarf stars which comprise some 80% of all the stars
in the Galaxy. The OMI with its large view and faint limiting
magnitude could detect many such objects using the transit method,
whereas a planet passes in front of its star, the slight dimming
announcing its presence.
The OMI will be the only professional Observatory in North America
with time devoted to education and outreach. Schools, colleges,
students, teachers, amateur astronomers and the general public
will be able to book queuing time on the instrument and make their
own discoveries. The imaging capabilities of the OMI will be unprecedented
in its ability to image very deep and very wide and thus offering
the observer a view of the universe not possible with any other
telescope in Canada. Indeed the One Metre Initiative will be amongst
the best wide field imaging telescopes in the world.
The facility will host a Visitor Centre with a variety of amenities
and divided into two phases. At the core of the visitor Centre
is a building housing displays; exploring astronomy, cosmology,
the technology behind the One-Metre, research conducted at the
Observatory, a boutique where posters generated by the One-Metre
and other relevant products will be available, a lecture area
where astronomers will be invited to give presentations and speak
about the latest research conducted at the One Metre Initiative.
Guided tours of the One-Metre, the 0.7m Observatories and its
control room and of the visitor Centre will be offered.
There will be large 36"x 48" backlit LED displays of
the extremely spectacular images and a 'live' High Definition
display of the latest images from the One-Metre. The Visitor Centre
will feature a large 0.6m telescope for viewing with lectures
under the Milky Way in the summertime. The Centre will be equipped
with washroom facilities, office space and the control room will
be located here. Phase 2 will feature a planetarium, cafeteria/restaurant,
expanded display areas and outside exhibits. Schools and groups
special arrangements will be provided.
The One Metre Initiative is offering an extraordinary opportunity
for interested parties to have a direct participation in the venture.
An extremely limited number of shares will be made available for
early stage investors. For more information see here.
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