REMEMBER WHEN you got that first telescope for Christmas? Well, even when you're a grown up and run a university observatory, it seems the thrill of getting a new one never quite disappears - not if you're Paul Delaney anyway.

"WOW!" is how Delaney, a science and astronomy professor who coordinates York's Observatory, described the first time he looked through the University's new telescope. "We installed the 40 cm scope and our first night of viewing was in December. Jupiter and Saturn were stunning.

"The images were bright and clean and as sharp or sharper than our 60 cm scope." Funds for the $23,000 purchase were provided by private donations.

York needed the new telescope to keep up with demands from both its public viewing program and its research programs. "As the astronomy program continues to grow, and research supported here at the York Observatory accelerates, the need for higher quality observing instruments, and more of them, has grown," says Delaney. Until the new telescope arrived, York used one dating from 1968.