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Stargazing Astronomy buff opens the heavens to community By John Hopkins Photos courtesy Nutwood Observatory
Dr. Brian McGaffney built his first telescope when he was in Grade 7 and never lost his fascination with the night sky.
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hen Toronto school teacher Judy Conquer first heard about Nutwood Observatory she found it a little hard to believe. But then not many of us would expect to find a first class stargazing venue located about 30 minutes from our cottage. Conquer was also intrigued, however. So she went on the website and then placed a call to Nutwood’s owner, Dr. Brian McGaffney. He invited Conquer to visit the facility with her husband and three children, aged 8-13. “We spent two hours up there one night in late July,” Conquer says. “It was awe inspiring. The equipment is so high tech and the images we saw were just unbelievable. It was phenomenal. The kids were totally mesmerized. They could have kept going and going all night.”
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With his equipment McGaffney is capable of producing imagery that wouldn’t have been remotely possible 30 years ago.
Indeed, there seems to be nothing McGaffney enjoys more than introducing people to the wonders of the night sky. The Toronto-born stargazer built his first telescope when he was in Grade 7 and worked part time at the famed Dunlop Observatory north of Toronto as a kid. “I was always interested in the sky,” he explains. “When you build a telescope and you’re looking through it at that age, you’re hooked. You grow up and do other things with your life, but you’ll always have that passion.” Indeed, although his career path took him in a different direction, astronomy has always been a hobby for the 62-year-old McGaffney. He has a PHD in physics and for 30 years owned an electronics business in North Bay, where he continued to indulge his passion for the sky.
But he sold the business and three years ago found some property just south of Bancroft off Lower Turiff Road. It seemed the ideal place to build on his fascination with the stars and planets. McGaffney considers the Bancroft area one of the premier spots in all of North America to pursue astronomy, putting it on a par with noted viewing areas in Arizona and New Mexico. “We have really good skies here,” he points out. “For one thing we’re high up, maybe 1,5001,800 feet. We have no interference from the jet stream and we’re far enough away from any cities that could affect the visibility of the sky. “The problem is the winters can be hard on equipment, and here we have a high moisture content in the air.”