Our speaker for this evening will be Mike Hotka, a senior software engineer at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, CO and an intrepid amateur astronomer, Deep Sky Marine, JPL Solar System Ambassador and Dark Sky Ranger. To top it all off, he is also a volunteer here at the LTO.

 His talk will be on the discovery of the planet Neptune.  Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds, Neptune is the last of the hydrogen and helium gas giants in our solar system. More than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth, the planet takes almost 165 Earth years to orbit our sun. In 2011 Neptune completed its first orbit since its discovery in 1846.

The ice giant Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. (Galileo had recorded it as a fixed star during observations with his small telescope in 1612 and 1613.) When Uranus didn’t travel exactly as astronomers expected it to, two mathematicians, one from England and the other from France, working independently, , proposed the position and mass of another as yet unknown planet that could cause the observed changes to Uranus’ orbit. Mike’s talk will discuss the astronomical mindset of the time, how the calculations were made and the race to have someone search for this undiscovered planet. Eventually the Frenchman convinced the German Observatory in Berlin to conduct a search. Neptune was found on the first night of searching in 1846. Seventeen days later, its largest moon, Triton, was also discovered.

 For the past 8 years Mike Hotka has been a software developer at Ball Aerospace for ground support equipment for satellite communications and data up- and download protocols.

Before that he was an adjunct professor in astronomy at Front Range Community College in Westminster, a member of the technical staff at SUN Microsystems, AT&T/Bell Labs and Rockwell International/Alcatel Network Systems. He holds a BA in Physics & Computer Science, and MS in Computer Science and an MS in Mission Operations and Space Management.

 Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects. Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

Our speaker for this evening will be Monte Henderson, a senior program manager at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, CO.  His talk will feature the Deep Impact Mission to Comet Tempel1.

 On July 4th, 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact program completed a highly successful mission to explore the interior of a comet.  Deep Impact’s excavation of the comet Tempel1 drew worldwide attention and was widely acclaimed as a tremendous scientific and engineering success. The mission was, by any measure, NASA’s most widely followed unmanned mission ever, and one of its most popular of all time. 

At the heart of the mission was the project team from Boulder’s Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation.   A company best known for its canning jars (Ball Jars) had successfully proposed, designed, built, tested, and flown a highly sophisticated two part spacecraft that smashed into a comet 83 million miles away and successfully relayed nearly 12,000 images of the comet taken before, during, and after the collision.

Monte Henderson, Ball’s program manager for the Deep Impact program will present a discussion of the Deep Impact mission.  The following topics will be highlighted:

• Comets and Their Secrets, Why did NASA want to learn more about comets?
• The Spacecraft, What did Ball design and build?
• The Mission, What did the program accomplish and what did we learn?

 Mr. Monte Henderson has been with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. since 1990.  Mr. Henderson worked on the National Defense Brilliant Pebbles Initiative (launched Oct 1992), the Hubble Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Instrument (launched Feb, 1997), the NASA Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF, since renamed Spitzer) (launched Aug, 2003), NASA’s Deep Impact mission (launched Jan, 2005), NASA’s Kepler mission (launched March, 2009) and the Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center’s (SMC) Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) program (launched Sept, 2010) .   Mr. Henderson was also the Program Manager on the Kepler Mission, which was a mission to search for Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars.  Since 2010, Mr. Henderson has been the program manager for the Geodesic Dome Phased Array Antenna (GDPAA) program and the Affordable Common Radar Architecture (ACRA) program. 

 Prior to joining Ball Aerospace, Mr. Henderson worked at Lockheed Missiles and Space developing phased-array antenna missile guidance systems; and at the Los Alamos National Laboratories, designing intrusion detection systems in weapons development and storage facilities.

Mr. Henderson holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Engineering, Embedded Systems from the New Mexico State University.  

 Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

 Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

Severe hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, and snowfalls—the United States endured a record-breaking number of extreme weather events last year. We rely on satellites continuously orbiting Earth to predict these events. We also rely on satellites to monitor the conditions related to climate change.

Suomi NPP, the first of NASA’s next generation of weather and climate spacecraft, hails from Ball Aerospace in Boulder. Learn how this spacecraft was built and then launched last October, and about its critical mission gathering land, ocean, and atmosphere data.

 Jason Fettig is a mechanical engineer at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. His role on the Suomi NPP program spanned many duties, such as designing the accommodation of a Suomi NPP instrument, supporting the integration of all five instruments, and then verifying the instruments’ mechanical alignment to the spacecraft.

Jason Fettig received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. While still a student, he began working at Ball through the company’s cooperative education program. In 2007 he was permanently hired as a mechanical design engineer. Jason is currently working on NPP’s successor, JPSS (Joint Polar Satellite System). 

Originally from Michigan City, Indiana, Jason now resides in Loveland with his wife. He’s an avid snowboarder, softball player, and golfer.

 Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

 Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

 Good quality outdoor lighting improves safety, is better for business, and protects the environment. Please join us to learn more about how to effectively choose lighting that benefits everyone with increased safety and reduced operating costs, while effectively safeguarding our endangered night skies.

 Andrea Schweitzer, Ph.D. is an astronomer and board member of the Little Thompson Observatory in Berthoud. She received her doctorate in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin. Later, she helped test one of the cameras for the Hubble Space Telescope, and her research has been written up in publications ranging from the New York Times to Sky & Telescope Magazine. Andrea works from Fort Collins as a project management consultant for NASA and for astronomy education.

 Daniel Greenidge is a homeschooled sophomore who has always had a love for the night sky. At age 14, after a few years of amateur observing, he began volunteering at Fiske Planetarium (CU-Boulder), where he was introduced to the academic side of astronomy. One year later, he started volunteering at the Little Thompson Observatory, where he works with all ages, explaining the night sky. Other interests include classical piano, backpacking, and physics. He resides in Loveland with his parents and lovely twin sister.

Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

 Bryan has visited Yellowknife in the Northern Territories several times over the last few years and has taken some incredible pictures of this natural phenomenon. If you still remember his great 3-D comets slide shows he gave the past couple of years at LTO, than you know this one will be very exciting.  He will also have a book signing after the show with his 3-D coffee table book on the Aurora Borealis called Prelude Lake (see it at: www.preludelake.com) for $20 (retail $64.95)

 Bryan has been interested in Astronomy since 1957 when he had just moved to a farm in rural Michigan. One summer evening he went outside shortly after sunset and observed a bright naked eye comet just over the tree line. It was Comet Mrkos that had just been discovered. That stimulated his interest in Astronomy and he has been studying it ever since. Bryan began taking astro-photos in 1985 when Halley’s made its visit. He noticed, that his favorite photos were where the Comet included trees, mountains, etc. that gave the comet a sense of scale plus made the image more interesting. Then in 1996 during the Winter Star Party, he was planning a trip for Hale-Bopp when it was announced that Hyakutake was discovered. While relaxing on the beach he remembered his grandfather’s old stereoscope. Bryan mused, why couldn’t he take 3-D pictures of the upcoming Comets? He went out and bought another camera and a bar that held the two some distance apart and started taking 3-D images of Hyakutake. By the time Hale-Bopp came he had the technique down. From that experience, which left him with over 1200 Hale-Bopp comet slides, he has developed a great interest in the Aurora Borealis. 

Please see his website for more information http://www.astro-photo.com

 Due to the large interest in this show in past years, we will use the Berthoud High School Auditorium for Bryan’s presentation. Please use the East door to get to the Auditorium. Volunteers will be on hand to help you with directions. The doors will open at 7:00pm and the show will start at 7:30pm.  The Observatory will be open after his slide show, probably around 8:30pm

 Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects. Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

 What is life? Are there extreme environments on Earth where we are surprised to find life? Does this tell us anything about where we might find life elsewhere in the universe?  We will explore science’s search for life on Earth and in the solar system.  We’ll get an update on our search for Earth-like worlds in our stellar neighborhood and will look at the efforts of programs like SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and see how you can contribute to the search.

John Ensworth is the Senior Science Education Specialist at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies working with NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. He conducts independent reviews of all Earth and Space Science education products produced by or for NASA. (www.strategies.org) He conducts workshops and professional development opportunities year around and at national science education meetings like the NSTA and the AGU. He has a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and has undergraduate degrees in physics & astronomy, geography & meteorology with minors in math and computer science.

He became interested in astronomy in the 2nd grade and began to teach astronomy to cub scouts and boy scouts by the 5th grade. He worked for the Arizona State University planetarium when Halley’s Comet paid the inner solar system a visit in 1985-1986 and was a planetarium lecturer at the Oklahoma City Omniplex Planetarium for almost 10 years. He has worked at Steward Observatory, at the University of Arizona, Tucson and conducted site testing for the placement of the Mt. Graham observatory complex. He has also observed at the 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak, a 36” telescope at Kitt Peak, and at the Multi-Mirror Telescope at Mt. Whipple.

More recently he has conducted over 50 astronomy nights for Oklahoma, Virginia, Maryland audiences, has taught college level astronomy for almost 25 years and is a volunteer for the Little Thompson Observatory in Berthoud, CO.

The observatory doors will open at 7:00pm and the talk will start at 7:30pm. 

Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

Our guest speaker for this special public star night will be our own volunteer John Ensworth and the title of his special talk will be “The Star of Wonder”. 

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM FASCINATES.

The nature of the star has been lost in history, confused by the passage of time. For millennia, believers, scoffers and the curious have wondered at the Biblical account of the Star. The Bible recounts unusual, or even impossible astronomical events at Christ’s birth. For many doubters, the account of the Star is easily dismissed as myth. For many believers, it’s a mystery accepted on faith.  And yet, the question of the nature of the Star of Bethlehem is of such interest to religion, to history, to science and philosophy, that we really can’t dismiss the mystery.  Indeed, we can turn to each of these disciplines for assistance in our search for the nature of the star.

John will show us the possible origin of this phenomenon using various historical timelines and current modern day techniques to attempt to solve the mystery.

John Ensworth is the Senior Science Education Specialist at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies working with NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. He conducts independent reviews of all Earth and Space Science education products produced by or for NASA. (www.strategies.org) He conducts workshops and professional development opportunities year around and at national science education meetings like the NSTA and the AGU. He has a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and has undergraduate degrees in physics & astronomy, geography & meteorology with minors in math and computer science.

 He became interested in astronomy in the 2nd grade and began to teach astronomy to cub scouts and boy scouts by the 5th grade. He worked for the Arizona State University planetarium when Halley’s Comet paid the inner solar system a visit in 1985-1986 and was a planetarium lecturer at the Oklahoma City Omniplex Planetarium for almost 10 years. He has worked at Steward Observatory, at the University of Arizona, Tucson and conducted site testing for the placement of the Mt. Graham observatory complex. He has also observed at the 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak, a 36” telescope at Kitt Peak, and at the Multi-Mirror Telescope at Mt. Whipple.

More recently he has conducted over 50 astronomy nights for Oklahoma, Virginia, Maryland audiences, has taught college level astronomy for almost 25 years including at the University of Phoenix and is a volunteer for the Little Thompson Observatory in Berthoud, CO.

The observatory doors will open at 7:00pm and the talk will start at 7:30pm.  Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

Our guest speakers will be Chief Sam Moves Camp and Jim Tolstrup, and the title of their talk will be “Lakota Star Knowledge”.  As part of this talk, a brief ceremony will be held to formally consecrate our new Lakota Native American Indian constellation wall at LTO. This ceremony may include some Lakota singers as well.

 Members of the Lakota tribe observed the stars while remaining in one geographical area over a period of thousands of years. In the “Winter Circle” they saw a representation of their seasonal migration through the Black Hills in Western South Dakota. The stars also represented the spiritual life of the people. The shape of the earth was thought to resemble the constellations above.  Much of this mirroring takes place inside the red clay valley which encircles the Black Hills of South Dakota.  The Lakota stellar theology can be summarized by the quote: “What is on the earth is in the stars, and what is in the stars is on the earth.”

Thus to the Lakota, the stars represented places on Earth, the appropriate timing for migration, hunting, gathering and ceremonies, as well as ethical and moral lessons.  

 Since his birth in 1948, Chief Sam Moves Camp has been trained for his role as a traditional medicine man and healer. Sam is a leader of traditional spiritual ceremonies, as well as being an advisor on cultural and treaty issues. Sam is a direct descendent of Woptuka, a holy man of the 19th century who helped the great chief, Crazy Horse obtain the power to become the greatest Lakota warrior of all time. Sam’s instruction came directly from his Grandfather (also named Sam Moves Camp) and many other Medicine Men all of whom are gone now. Sam remains as one of the last authentic links to the ancient wisdom of this land.

 Jim Tolstrup is the President of Cankatola Ti Ospaye, a non-profit that supports native elders. At the urging of Lakota Elders, Jim reaches out to his own people to promote justice for Native Americans and harmony with the natural world. As the Executive Director of the High Plains Environmental Center in Loveland, Colorado, Jim works with developers to “restore nature where we live, work and play.”

 The observatory doors will open at 7:00pm and the talk will start at 7:30pm.   Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org

 Space weather refers to conditions on the Sun and in the space environment that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems, and can endanger human life or health.  Space weather takes the form of episodic mass ejections—or “solar tsunamis”—from the Sun, sporadic showers of energetic particles and bursts of radiation associated with solar flares, and intermittent high-speed streams of magnetized solar wind plasma that buffet the Earth’s magnetosphere and induce geomagnetic storms and create the beautiful aurora.  Our rapidly evolving high-tech global economy has become increasingly vulnerable to the disruptive impacts of space weather on satellite telecommunications, GPS-based navigation and timing, transpolar commercial aviation, and the human exploration and commercial utilization of space.  NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center is the Nation’s official source for space weather alerts, watches and warnings.  It operates 24×7, and is designated a National Critical System by the US Department of Homeland Security.

To find out more about space weather go to http://www.spaceweather.gov.

 Thomas Bogdan has been the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, located in Boulder, Colorado, since May of 2006.  In this capacity he serves as the principal representative for civil space weather operations in the United States and is the national liaison to the World Meteorological Organization for space weather matters.  He is also a co-chair of the multi-agency National Space Weather Program.

 The Space Weather Prediction Center is the official source for our Nation’s space weather prediction, forecast and warning services.  It operates 24/7 with a yearly budget of $9 Million, and is one of only four Department of Homeland Security-designated National Critical Systems in the National Weather Service.  Approximately 50 civil servants and a dozen contractors work to provide space weather guidance that is critical for the aerospace industry, our homeland security and national defense, Global Navigation Satellite Services, commercial aviation, and the integrity of the power grid.

 A Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, Dr. Bogdan was previously a senior scientist and an administrator with the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), from 1983 to 2006.  There he carried out fundamental research on solar magnetic activity, led the Societal Environmental Research and Education Laboratory, and directed NCAR’s prestigious Advanced Studies Program.  Between 2001 and 2003, Dr. Bogdan served as the Program Director for the Solar-Terrestrial Research Section of NSF’s Atmospheric Sciences Division.  During this time he was instrumental in developing the NSF’s first bridged faculty program in the space sciences, that resulted in the creation of eight new tenure track faculty lines devoted to solar-terrestrial research and education at several major U.S. universities. 

 Dr. Bogdan earned his Doctorate in Physics at the University of Chicago in 1984, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in mathematics/physics from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1979.  He is the author of over 100 papers in solar-terrestrial research, was the recipient of the Gregor Wentzel and Valentine Telegdi Prizes from the University of Chicago.  He spent the summer of 1989 as a Visiting Gauss Professor at the Universitäts Sternwarte in Göttingen.

The observatory doors will open at 7:00pm and the talk will start at 7:30pm. 

Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

The Dawn spacecraft left Earth on Sept 27, 2007, and will finally reach its first destination, Vesta. Dawn is the second NASA mission to be powered by an advanced NASA technology known as ion propulsion and is the first NASA mission to orbit two solar system objects.

Using data from Dawn’s year-long visit at Vesta, scientists will seek to understand some of the most fundamental questions in planetary science: how did planets form? What were the starting materials that formed our solar system? What is the origin of meteorites that fall on Earth? The Dawn Spacecraft will send back new and exciting data that give us a snapshot of the early solar system and answers to these questions and more. Vesta Fiesta celebrates the beginning of Dawn’s exploration of this “new world” and includes presentations by Dawn team members discussing the mission and some of the latest data. 

 Our local Vesta Fiesta will feature interesting talks by some of our volunteers covering this asteroid encounter and describing the mission and its scientific objectives. For the kids among us we will have DAWN trading cards, DAWN book marks and DAWN stickers as well as a few refrigerator magnets.

 Please join us for a fun-filled educational experience.

 Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through our large telescope at various celestial objects.

Public star nights are held the third Friday of each month (except July, when we are closed for annual maintenance). No reservations are necessary for these nights. Just come and join us for the talk and some observing afterwards.

If you have any questions, please call the observatory information line at 970-613-7793 or check the LTO web site at: www.starkids.org