Article content

Trevor Kjorlien was on a plane into Montreal, in 2013, when he found his calling. The sun had just set, and as he looked out his window he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“I see this red thing,” he said. “I was like, ‘What is that?’ After a few seconds, I realized it was the (full) moon coming over the horizon.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Plateau Astro aims to get everyday Montrealers excited about astronomy Back to video

“The moon looks red when it rises, as the light has to go through more air and gets scattered,” he explained.

“So it looks huge and is this bright red colour. I thought, ‘Wow, what are the odds of me being on the left side of a plane that is landing, just as the moon is coming up? The timing was perfect. That will never happen again in my lifetime.’ ”

After some reflection, and research, Kjorlien figured out that he could witness such a spectacle once a month, without even boarding a plane.

“I realized, ‘How come it had never occurred to me to go up Mount Royal and watch? You can calculate when the moon will rise over the horizon, so a month later I tried and there it was.