Despite the near freezing temperatures, some 4,600 people made their way up to the summit of Mont Tremblant to view the Perseid meteor showers, take in the Canadian Space Agency’s feature presentation, and talk with amateur astronomers on August 11 and 12 this year at Tremblant Beneath the Stars. Even with a full moon, visitors were dazzled by dozens of shooting stars an hour on both evenings.

On Saturday afternoon, Canadian Space Agency geologists and explorers Gordon Osinski and Richard Leveillée welcomed nearly a thousand visitors to the Agency’s kiosk with a display of rocks similar to those found on the Moon and Mars and invited people to stay for the evening events.

With the help of the Centre de sciences Aster, the Canadian Space Agency treated visitors to a new attraction this year—a portable planetarium showing the night sky.

Inside, Aster’s Mathieu Akerly and the Agency’s Richard Grou gave presentations on the Perseid meteor showers and the constellations.

At the summit, nearly 50 amateur astronomers made their telescopes and other equipment and available to stargazers, who lined up for a chance to view the planet Jupiter and other features of the night sky. People were surprised to learn that many celestial objects are easily seen with a good pair of binoculars mounted on a tripod.

The Canadian Space Agency also used a high-powered laser to point out the stars and constellations for the crowd.

There was an audible gasp from the audience when the powerful laser beam was fired up. It seemed to touch the stars.

Alain Berinstain’s presentation “Reaching for the Moon” gave an overview of the world community’s plans for lunar exploration over the coming decades.

He also reminded visitors how much we learned from the Apollo missions and the rock samples that were returned to Earth.

For instance, we now know that the Moon was probably once a part of the Earth, but separated during a cataclysmic impact.

He also spoke about Canada’s potential contributions to international missions, which could one day include space robotics such as Canadarm and other exciting new technologies.

Special thanks to the Club d’astronomes amateurs de Laval who co-organized the event. Tremblant Beneath the Stars is held annually, so see you there in 2007!