Toronto Observatory Shines on Wikipedia

sunspot 898 in h-alpha widefield
Originally uploaded by Cameran80

Check out Toronto on Wikipedia's home page today. Front and center is a little piece on the Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory.

I like to think I know a great deal about this city but I had no clue about the existence of this building or its place in the history of modern astronomy. Measurements taken at the observatory between 1840 and 1858 contributed to the understanding of sunspots and their effect on magnetic declination, which is the variation between north and true north as one navigates the globe.