Date/Time: Wednesday January 14, 2026 starting at 7:30PM
Location: University of Victoria, Bob Wright Centre, Lecture Theatre A104. Park in Lot 1 (pay parking) and cross Ring Road
You may be familiar with the 1.8m Plaskett telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO), but it is not the only noteworthy telescope on the hill. Located just across the road from the visitor’s centre, the 1.2m telescope and McKellar spectrograph has a vibrant history as well. Its namesake, Andrew McKellar, did lots of important work with spectroscopy at the DAO and designed the telescope’s coudé spectrograph. It saw first light in 1962 and has been in use for active research ever since.
This talk will dive into Andrew McKellar’s research, his design of the coudé spectrograph, how spectroscopy works, and the role it has played in past and present astronomy research.
Bio: Allen Keefe is a Physics and Astronomy undergraduate student at the University of Victoria. He is involved in astronomy outreach through both the Centre of the Universe at the DAO and the astronomy open house here at UVic and loves teaching people about how cool space is.
This past summer, he had the privilege of taking part in a two-month internship at the DAO and Centre of the Universe where he did astronomy outreach, giving tours to members of the public, designing and curating exhibits and educational materials, and doing research on the 1.2m telescope, presenting the results to members of the public at the end of the summer.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Allen came to Victoria to study astronomy at UVic starting in 2022. In his free time, he enjoys reading, writing poetry, and gardening.
