DONALD TEUMA-
CASTELLETTI
LUSKVILLE Oct. 21, 2017
Aspiring stargazers gathered in Luskville on Saturday Oct. 21, joining local astronomers for a chance to glimpse something out of this world.
Although the weather proved a bit too cloudy to see much, families were still treated to some quick space lessons from the experts gathered at the Luskville Falls entrance to Gatineau Park.
Set up in the field, Paul Sadler and other members of AstroPontiac had their huge telescopes on display and ready to hone in on all sorts of sights.
Unfortunately, a thick cloud cover rolled in too quickly.
It was weather like that night, Sadler said, that has led the group into purchasing a new inflatable planetarium for educational purposes.
“You just inflate it and there’s projectors inside, so you take 25 to 30 people in, have them lie on the floor and stare at the sky,” he said. “It projects a slow night sky, no clouds and it has recordings in French and English to explain what [they’re looking at], the history of it.”
The group had been fundraising for the planetarium for just over a year-and-a-half, but believes it’s worth every penny. That’s because on a night like they had, they could move the group inside the planetarium, either right there or inside at the community centre, and still have a lesson.
Usually, on a clear night, Sadler said this area is one of the best for the activity as local streetlights are designed to point downwards and the distance from the city means much less light pollution.
However, there were some things to see before stargazers arrived that evening.
“The first thing we hit was Saturn, which is always the crowd favourite, but nobody was here yet, then the clouds wiped it out,” said Sadler.
He said that he and other organizers had also seen some double stars, which generally appear as one to the naked eye.
Evening events like this have been put on in the past by the group, at the direction of AstroPontiac founder Stephan Paape. This was the second year the stargazing has taken place and the third event put on this year.
Even though there were no stars to be seen after dark, Paape made sure to answer all questions that kids and families posed to him, and provided lots of lessons for the children. He even had a tablet handy to bring up pictures of different stars and planets.
