MANITOULIN— Look up and look ahead for the best stargazing experiences of your life with two superb star parties—the Perseids Meteor Party and the Manitoulin Star Party—ready to take your breath away at Gordon’s Park Eco Resort on gorgeous Manitoulin Island next week!
Make a wish (or a hundred) while you witness up to 60 meteors per hour in brilliant kaleidoscope colours streaking across the sky during the Perseids Meteor Party, August 11-13. The view will never be better as the famous meteor shower paints the universe on the back drop of the darkest skies in Ontario in Gordon’s Park’s RASC designated Dark Sky Preserve. With no light pollution and 360 degree horizon-to-horizon viewing, let the star-studded sky take your breath away, and camp on site in the Dark Sky Preserve, so you don’t miss a single second of the show. Get to know your fellow astronomy enthusiasts and take a load off on Tuesday, August 11 with the wine and cheese welcome campfire and then head back into the Dark Sky Preserve to enjoy the first night of meteor watching, along with a public astronomy and laser sky tour guided session. The event also includes an astronomy slide show and a guided nature hike for you to enjoy during the daylight hours while the meteors slip through the sky unseen.
Picking up where the Perseids Meteor Party leaves off, the Manitoulin Star Party runs from August 14-17. Relax at a wine and cheese welcome campfire on Friday, August 14 and get to know the great people that will be your neighbors, camping on site in the RASC designated Dark Sky Preserve for this fabulous event. Then, familiarize yourself with the characters in the great drama of the universe with a guided astronomy session and laser sky tour. As the sun sets, revel in the emergence of a great blanket of stars spreading from horizon to horizon in the darkest skies in Ontario, and let yourself be overwhelmed by the vastness of the universe around you as you have never seen it before. This star party also falls on the August new moon, which means little to no moon glow to steal the spotlight from the stars!
During the daytime, while the light of the sun drowns out the stars, enjoy riveting guest speakers like Joan Marie Galat, author of the ‘Dot to Dot in the Sky’ astronomy series and many more titles on astronomy and the outdoors, as well as Francois van Heerden of the Toronto RASC and Sharron Valli of Algoma Astronomers with fantastic presentations like ‘Dark Matters,’ ‘Shoestring Astronomy,’ and ‘New Ancient Astronomical Sites.’ On Saturday evening, enjoy a potluck supper where awesome door prizes will be awarded, and mark the occasion with a group photo.
Don’t miss out on these experiences of a lifetime, call 705-859-2470 now to register, email rita@gordonspark.com for more information or visit the website at www.gordonspark.com, and find the park on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gordonspark.
