A Canadian government funding cut will shut down a critical teaching observatory where the first dark skies reserve was created, its director told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency on Wednesday (February 11).
According to AFP, the Observatoire Astronomique du Mont-Mégantic in the Canadian province of Quebec is described by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as “the most important observatory of North America’s East Coast” because of its sheer size.
“Our federal financing to operate the observatory is being cut,” said René Doyon, a professor at the University of Montreal, who is responsible for keeping the observatory up and running.
The Canadian government provided $500,000, half of the observatory’s budget.
The observatory is scheduled to close on April 1.
Late Wednesday afternoon, media reports suggested the federal government would provide the $500,000 funding after all, according to a spokesman in the office of Industry Minister James Moore. Another report said a spokesman for the government, Maxime Robert, would not divulge specifics in the funding arrangement.
More information:
AFP – Canada shuttering key big-lens observatory – here
Metro – Quebec observatory gets federal help – here
CBC News – Mont-Mégantic Observatory saved by federal funding – here
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