The Club Vega is an astronomy club in Cap-Rouge which regroups people that are passionate about space, beginner or experienced, since 1998.

The club Vega has been founded by Philippe Moussette and Roland Maltais on November 26, 1998. This club has been established at Cap Rouge. The goal of this club is to make people learn more about the wonders of space. This club regroups more than 1oo members. Each month, the members of the club meet at the community center of Cap-Rouge and share their photographies of the month. Also, the more experienced members share their knowledge with others. The club also receives different scientists and speakers every month for conferences.

There is also a youth section. This section have been set up on February 15,  2003 by Philippe Mousette and Mathieu Groulx. In 2018 it will be the 15th anniversary of this section. It is some juniors of the section that helped Philippe to organize the different youth-oriented activities. It means a lot to Philippe Moussette «It’s the youth section who develops the club». There is one meeting per month where the juniors follow conferences. There are also evenings of observation, which can be at the Mont Cosmos, at St-Agapit or at the Montmorency’s forest. During those evenings of observation, we can observe the moon, Mars, Saturn and a lot of celestial objects.

The president of this club, Philippe Moussette, is a professional photographer who is passionate about the night sky, photography and also by the Club Vega. Philippe Moussette also created the Astronomy Club of the Cégep St-Foy, on March 3, 1998; He has been president for two years. He has been advisor for the “Fédération des astronomes amateurs du Québec” and also president of the Cosmos observatory during 3 years. He is not just president of the club Vega, he is also a member of the group ASTRO and CDD.

Many of his pictures of space, stars or planets were published all around the world. Philippe Moussette is known in the astronomy community  mainly for his amazing aurora borealis pictures. His most popular picture is the aurora borealis of  November 4th, 2004, which won the picture of the day on the NASA website. His biggest realization is the release of his book “Les Yeux tournés vers le ciel” in October 2011. He was also the youngest person, at the age of 24, who won the merits of amateur astronomer of the “Fédération des astronomes amateurs du Québec”. Philippe Mousette also won the “Dollar Morin” for his volunteering in the Capitale-Nationale.

For more information reach the website of Club Vega : http://www.faaq.org/clubs/vega/

Written by Alec Clavet and Alexis Ratté

Edited by Gabriel Monrency