Best Days in 2023
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 11, 12, 13, are around the maximum of the Perseid meteor shower, which should be good this year as it is almost New Moon (Aug. 16) so the moon will be rising after 1 AM. At a dark site, you might see 100 meteors/hour.
https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/@6093943
A Few Tips
Since one does not know when or where the meteors will be visible, it is best to focus on an attractive part of the sky, e.g. the Big Dipper or the W of Cassiopeia, and make time exposures of 20 to 30 seconds and hope that a meteor crosses the field. Longer than 30 seconds and the stars are oval not round because of the Earth’s rotation. Take a tripod. You might take hundreds of photos and only get a couple of meteors. Here is a link to an interactive star chart for Orillia – just set the date and time when you will be photographing. Use a wide angle, not zoom; the bigger the field, the better the chance of catching a meteor.
https://heavens-above.com/skychart2.aspx?lat=44.6202&lng=-79.4674&loc=Unnamed&alt=0&tz=EST
Where to Photograph Nearby
A good place to go is the Bass Lake South boat launch on the south shore of Bass Lake on Line 13, north of Bass Lake Side Road.
From there, there is a good view to the north and northeast across Bass Lake with few lights. The main bother is cars coming into the parking area with their headlights on, so get there in twilight and get set up before dark. If you park facing the road, not the lake, you will not bother others when you leave. The earlier you get there, the better your chance of getting a good spot right on the shore. You can photograph the sunset while waiting for darkness.
Of course, this is weather-dependent. A few clouds are OK but 75% or more clear sky is best. Clouds at sunset often disappear after dark, so keep a close eye on the sky. Hopefully one of the 3 nights will be clear.
Bill and I are leading groups from the Orillia and Kawartha Naturalists out at the Bluebird Ranch parking lot on Wiley Road just north of McNamee Road on the Carden Alvar, so we won’t be at Bass Lake. Most of the naturalists will be just watching, not photographing, and some might not be as careful about lights as is necessary when doing long exposures. There will certainly be more cars coming and going. If anyone does want to go to Carden, I suggest that they drive 2 km up Wiley Road to the bird blind on the west side of the road. There is a parking area there, an empty field giving a good view to the east.
Bass Lake is closer and hopefully not as busy. Of course, if you know of another dark site with few trees and a good low horizon, great. I think that you can forget about Torrence Barrens. We tried that a few years ago and it was crowded. There were lots of flashlights and even campfires!!!
Even if people are not keen on trying to photograph shooting stars, it is interesting to just lie back on a reclining deck chair and watch.
submitted by Vicki Sherwood