At 3:22 p.m., the microphones fell silent, the giant screens went dark. “Put on your hats, we’ll see you soon,” said host André Robitaille to the crowd gathered in the parking lot of the Astrolab du Mont-Mégantic. The spectacled heads then turned towards the southwest. Spontaneously, everyone started whispering.
The sunlight, so bright and harsh since the beginning of this cosmic day, had dropped in intensity. A strange pale light had fallen on the parking lot, while in the sky, the Sun seemed to shine again as if nothing had happened. “It’s cooler, isn’t it? », Launched Marc Laurin. His neighbors nodded. Coats were put on, zippers were zipped.
Only a crescent line of the Sun remained. She was getting thinner as the seconds passed. Sometimes, cries of joy from spectators, unable to contain this flood of emotions, resounded in the silence. Soon there were only crumbs of light visible behind the glasses.
And suddenly, a clamor descended like a wave from the top of the Astrolab to reach the entire parking lot. The Sun finally disappeared, the glasses fell off. And the eclipsards, amazed, saw in the sky a black ball ringed with fire, flanked by planets and stars. Exactly as they expected, exactly as it was explained to them, exactly as those who have already witnessed this solar spectacle tell it.
Except that… “Even though we know it… I didn’t expect that! “, said Marc-André Roux, still surprised.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
The total eclipse at Mont-Mégantic.
At his side, his daughter Sarah-Maude, his son Félix and Jérémy Leduc had difficulty finding the words. “I don’t know if it’s the cold, but I was shivering!” “, said Sarah-Maude.
Around them were gathered 2,500 lucky ticket holders who wanted to attend the show in the capital of astronomy, at the Mont-Mégantic National Park. Darkness fell for three minutes and 28 seconds.
Farid Gharibeh, guide and facilitator at Astrolab, lost all composure and was jumping for joy. Literally. ” It was the climax very technical preparation, and I was overwhelmed with emotions,” he explained. “I expected to understand the phenomenon, analyze it, and… ohhhhh! My brain didn’t even have time to react. I expected to see Jupiter, Venus, and, ohhh… They were there! »
“I’ve been working here for five years and expectations have been raised,” added his colleague Maude Larivière. To experience all this with our colleagues and our families, in a place that we carry in our heart… A total solar eclipse is great. But a total solar eclipse, well surrounded, at Mont Mégantic, is extraordinary! »
Sébastien Giguère, scientific coordinator of Astrolab, had a tight throat with emotion. “I chased two eclipses before. But we had chased them away until the last minute while driving to avoid the clouds. It was adrenaline, it was good. But I had never experienced the crescendo, with the emotions rising, with our families. This is where we fall apart. »
” The best place “
“If we are here, it is also to pay homage to science,” Sébastien Giguère told the crowd shortly before the sun disappeared.
In the crowd, many came to see the event at Mont Mégantic. “This is where we wanted to live it,” said Odette G. Morin, who came from Granby with her partner Marc Laurin to stay with their friend Louise Lavallée. “Mont-Mégantic is our playground.”
Richard Van Neste, from Quebec, waited patiently for about fifteen minutes to observe the Sun through the lens of one of the many telescopes available on the site. “I had thought about going to see the eclipse in Mexico, but in the end, this is the best place,” said the man who came with his whole family.
Léo and Marguerite Gagnon, 11 and 13 years old, who had come from Sherbrooke to join friends from Trois-Rivières at the Astrolab, were debating how old they will be during the next total eclipse of 2079. They will be, them, the chance to relive the event, which will only be visible in the Maritimes.
“I’m happy to be old enough to remember this day,” said Anthony Diouf, 16, who accompanied his father, host and author Boucar Diouf. Still amazed by the spectacle, the two men had a thought for these people of ancient times, convinced that the gods were stealing the Sun. “It was like an eye looking at you,” described Boucar Diouf.
But beyond the celestial spectacle that was offered in the Quebec skies, Boucar Diouf was also touched by “the feeling of communion that brings us together for a scientific event”. Millions of people attended the event, children will find a scientific vocation. This eclipse “is more than a cosmic coincidence,” says Boucar Diouf. “It’s a poetic cosmic coincidence. »