The Queen's Observatory is a non-profit facility run by the Queen's University Astronomy Research Group and the Queen's Physics Department. It is staffed by graduate and undergraduate students in Astronomy. For well over a century, the Queen's Observatory has been providing access to the campus and community through its student training and public programs.

A Historic Kingston Landmark

Click on the images below to navigate and learn the history and stories behind
what is now the Queen's Observatory at Ellis Hall.

6.25-inch Alvan Clark refracting telescope - 1855

Daily News article announcing the plans for the new observatory - 1855

Map of City Park - 1875

Commemorative plaque in City Park

Nathan Fellowes Dupuis, first scientist to staff the Queen's Observatory in 1861

Observatory at Carruthers Hall - 1881

Observatory at the base of University Avenue - 1909

Queen's Campus aerial view - 1920

Constructing a Modern Observatory

15-inch reflecting Fecker telescope - 1960

Replacing the old Frecker telecope - 1999

Replacing the dome on the roof of Ellis Hall - 1999

The 16-inch reflecting Cassegrain focus telescope - Present