In Gander, Newfoundland, where the airport was a crossroads of the world until airliners no longer needed to refuel on transatlantic flights, a small influx of outsiders arrived at one of the final destinations of the total solar eclipse.
For much of Monday, it seemed unlikely that anything would be seen. Newfoundland is known for its stormy weather.
Hilding Nielson, assistant professor of physics at Memorial University of Newfoundland and organizer of the University of Newfoundland parking lot observation event, said, “At this time of year, there's about a 1 in 10 chance that the sky will be clear.'' I knew that,” he said. In the North Atlantic, hundreds of spectators braved near-freezing temperatures and a windy day.
“But you roll the dice and hope for the best,” he added.
Conveniently, the clouds parted just as the partial solar eclipse was underway, leaving us mostly out of the way. However, as the totality came, heavy dark clouds also appeared and remained for about 3 minutes.
People were still finding community under the clouds.
Michael Mendenhall, a nuclear physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, traveled to Newfoundland from Maryland, where he works remotely. He had brought a customized telescope with him, complete with a homemade viewing screen made from clamps, tape, squares of synthetic fiber, and an automobile oil funnel. Thanks to this, he became a bit of a celebrity on viewing sites.
Other participants at the rally were 55 people who took a three-and-a-half hour bus ride from the state capital, St. John's, for an outing organized by a local science center.
Among them was Mehrin Naz, a graduate student in business administration. He immigrated to Canada from Bangladesh five years ago and became an amateur astronomer after discovering Newfoundland's dark skies.
In my hometown, I could hardly even see the moon. She traveled to Gander with two friends, Arun Kumar and Rafisa Mahroz, who are also immigrants. Originally from Bangladesh.
“I forced them to come here,” Naz said, adding that he also educated other members of the community about the eclipse.
At the beginning of the eclipse's path in Quebec, viewers in Montreal also had in mind to share it with others.
Members of Atelier St. James, a non-profit organization that supports people experiencing homelessness in Montreal, shared eclipse glasses along with free food ahead of Monday's space event.
Tristan Arsenault, co-director of the center, said they have been preparing for the event for several weeks and that “everyone in Montreal is participating.” “We don't want people to miss out on this opportunity because they don't know where their glasses are or don't have access to the internet.”
At Beaver Lake in the city's Mount Royal neighborhood, David Stevenson waited for the total solar eclipse with his children Adrian, 10, and Iris, 14. All schools across Montreal will be closed starting Monday to allow children to experience the event with their families.
“I want to be an astronaut,” Adrian says, pointing his pink instant camera at the last rays of sunlight.
“We just did a school project on extraterrestrial life,” he added. “People think they know what aliens are supposed to look like, but that's not really the case.”