SAANICH - If you look up, way up, you might see it: a white dome atop Little Saanich Mountain.

Since 1918, it has been a landmark, and the place where some of the country's best star-watchers learned about and observed the night sky.

That dedication has paid off in some impressive discoveries, and now, it's earned the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory status as a national heritage site.

The place was first opened and run by an astronomer named John Plaskett. The first mirror for the his giant telescope was built in 1912 and sailed to Victoria just before the outbreak of the First World War.

Much of the equipment had to be hauled up the mountain on horseback.

But that turn-of-the-century engineering was responsible for a lot of out-of-this world breakthroughs.

Technology's changed a lot but some of the country's smartest scientists still run up these stairs, to stare at the sky through this giant telescope.