While in Alberta last month, I had to make a stop here "because I believe in science!". Nah, but seriously, this is an observatory in the foothills of the Rockies southwest of Calgary, and there is a Siksika astronomer working here who's made some big news: He named a comet he discovered last year.
The RAO is an observatory with several optical telescopes as well as a small radio telescope, and also a newly-built outreach center. I made a trek up here late on an observing night while Rob Cardinal was busy scanning the southern Alberta skies for comets. Mr. Cardinal gave me a tour of the facility and showed me the various instruments RAO uses as well as the Control Rooms which control them. It sounds like they get a fair amount of traffic up to the observatory for various outreach opportunities. The observatory is really cool, and they are conducting really neat work.
Rob has been comet-hunting for a few years, and after the tour of the facility, he walked me through some of his searching techniques. We didn't happen to find any candidates that night, but it was cool to see his work and what he does. Nice to meet a fellow Siksika astronomer!
So if you happen to be in the hills southwest of Calgary on a clear and starry night, be sure to stop on by!