ASTROLab – Mont-Mégantic National Park

Located in the heart of the Mont-Mégantic National Park in southeastern Quebec, the ASTROLab is an astronomy activity center dedicated to the popularization of science. Since its creation in 1996, the ASTROLab has been offering guided tours, astronomy-related events and other educational activities tracing the history of the universe and unveiling its mysteries.

Thanks to its cosmological enigmas and original initiatives around various topical issues, the ASTROLab attracts a wide audience, including kids who gather to discover—and be fascinated by—constellations, planets, the solar system and Martian missions.

Yet, to immerse spectators into galaxies located millions of light years away from Earth, you have to offer them interactive activities and deliver unforgettable technological experiences. That’s precisely why the ASTROLab has recently called in Solotech to renovate and modernize its 95-person capacity multimedia room.

Over a 5-month period, the Solotech teams have brought their expertise in audio, video, lighting and collaboration systems to the table. They have most notably designed and installed a revolutionary, interactive 4K UHD projection system allowing the ASTROLab facilitators to project high quality content on the multimedia room’s 27’ by 18’ big screen.

It was no easy task, explains Ghislain Véronneau, Technical Project Manager at Solotech: “One of the biggest challenges our teams were facing was to make UHD 60-second live video transitions completely seamless. We made it possible thanks to 12 Gb/s SDI signal processing, along with the power of the Panasonic PT-RQ22K projector. The final image rendering on the giant screen is amazing.”

Other innovations: Solotech also supplied and installed a 7.1 channel surround sound system in the room, as well as broadcasting and videoconference features allowing classrooms around the world to follow and participate in real time with the center’s activities.

“Collaborating with Solotech has really enabled us to increase the potential of the already stunning ASTROLab. We are looking forward to introducing our audience to these new changes this summer!”, concluded Guillaume Poulin, an employee of the Park specializing in astronomy.