Fellipe and Manuela Thurler travelled for nearly 14 hours from Brazil to get to Sherbrooke, Que., to watch the total solar eclipse Monday.
The father daughter duo from Rio de Janeiro had never been to the Eastern Townships before but started planning their journey a month ago after finding out that Sherbrooke would be one of the best places on Earth for Monday’s phenomenon.
‘It’s not easy coming from Brazil,” joked Fellipe Thurler.
“We love these kinds of phenomena. In October, we watched an annular eclipse in Brazil and we decided to come here to watch the total eclipse.”
As forecast by Environment and Climate Change Canada last week, the skies are clear in southern Quebec and the weather is mild, with highs of 16 expected in Montreal and 15 in much of the Eastern Townships.
It’s made parts of southern Quebec a hub for those looking skyward.
“It’s going to be quite busy today,” says Dominic Denault Pilon.
“On the path of totality today, we are one of the few spots that has a zero chance of clouds.”
One of the co-ordinators for Éclipse Estrie and operator of Bishop’s University telescopes, Denault Pilon set up five telescopes across Bishop’s University campus for the visitors.
He says he has been working toward this day for two years and has visited schools across southern Quebec to help get kids prepared and know what to expect.
Josiah Lim, 8, travelled with his family from New Jersey to see his first eclipse. They were among those who changed their travel plans to head to southern Quebec after seeing the weather forecast in parts of the U.S.
Lim says he has been learning about what to expect by watching TV.
“There were scientists talking about it,” said Lim. “The moon blocks the sun and then we can see the corona.”
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David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada, says Quebecers won the lottery in terms of the best viewing conditions for the much-anticipated total solar eclipse.
Frumie Shelchen and Doug McVicar from Wonalancet, New Hampshire, wanted to travel to a city to experience the eclipse in a group.
“We were looking for a place that was right in the path of totality,” said McVicar.
“This is going to be like theatre or a sports event.”
Jean-Louis Heudier, an astronomer from Nice in France, was invited to Bishop’s as a lecturer ahead of the eclipse.
“It will be my fourth total eclipse,” said Heudier.
He says every eclipse feels different and that people looking skyward might even find themselves getting emotional.
“It’s so surprising that when you’ve seen one, you want to see another one.”
“It’s like a religious experience,” says Jake Capalan, who is from Los Angeles.
He says he cried when witnessing the 2017 eclipse.
“If you think about it, we’re just living at this time in history where the moon fills up the entire sun and we have the science and mathematics and knowledge to know where to be to actually witness that,” said Capalan.
“There’s just something magical about that.”
CBC Montreal is gathering video of how people are watching the eclipse for a project on this once-in-a-lifetime event we are all experiencing together. We’re looking for video of what you do during those minutes of totality.
You can send it to videoquebec@cbc.ca, or tag us on Tiktok or Insta @cbcmontreal. We will credit all the video we use in our final production and you will be able to see it later in the day.
Reminder, you should not look at the eclipse with the naked eye or try and record it with your unprotected phone.