Little Thompson Observatory

🌟 Public Star Night

📅 Friday, January 16, 2026

📍 Little Thompson Observatory

⏰ Doors Open: 7:00 | Guest Speaker 7:30 | Observing at LTO: 7:00-10:00

Webb, Roman and HabWorlds - Space Telescopes at the Astronomical Frontier

A special presentation by Dr. Gregory Wirth

Join us for an evening with Dr. Gregory Wirth of BAE Systems on the remarkable technologies behind NASA's current and future space telescopes. Learn how the pending Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope promises to change our ideas about dark matter and dark energy with a camera 100 times more powerful than those on Hubble and Webb. Get a glimpse into the future with NASA's ambitious Habitable Worlds Observatory, designed to identify and study Earth-like exoplanets using cutting-edge optics technology. And learn what new astronomical discoveries NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope is delivering with its astonishingly sharp infrared images of the universe. This accessible talk is geared to all with an interest in astronomy.

Dr. Wirth is an avid astronomer with a passion for sharing his love of space with the public. He studied physics, math, and astronomy at Northwestern University before earning his Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where his thesis exploited early data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Greg spent 16 years on Hawaii’s Big Island at the renowned W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and has lived in Longmont since 2014. He now serves as an astronomer and systems engineer for Boulder-based BAE Systems, a leading American aerospace company with a long history of contributing to groundbreaking astrophysics missions like Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, and Deep Impact.

Following the talk by Greg, the observatory will be open for public viewing through our telescopes, weather permitting.

Celebrating 26 Years of serving the public.

CANCELLED. Our speaker and public night program for tonight, Dec. 19 are CANCELLED due to hazardous winds and power outages in Berthoud. Please see www.starkids.org for our January program. Apologies to all who were planning to attend.

www.starkids.or

Tonight’s (Dec. 19) Public Star Night has been CANCELED.

Sorry for the late notice.

We have decided to cancel for tonight due to the high winds and power outages and reschedule for next month.

🌟 Public Star Night

📅 Friday, December 19, 2025

⏰ Doors Open: 7:00 | Guest Speaker 7:30 | Observing at LTO: 7:00-10:00

Webb, Roman and HabWorlds - Space Telescopes at the Astronomical Frontier

A special presentation by: Dr. Gregory Wirth

Join us for an evening with Dr. Gregory Wirth of BAE Systems on the remarkable technologies behind NASA's current and future space telescopes. Learn how the pending Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope promises to change our ideas about dark matter and dark energy with a camera 100 times more powerful than those on Hubble and Webb. Get a glimpse into the future with NASA's ambitious Habitable Worlds Observatory, designed to identify and study Earth-like exoplanets using cutting-edge optics technology. And learn what new astronomical discoveries NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope is delivering with its astonishingly sharp infrared images of the universe. This accessible talk is geared to all with an interest in astronomy.

Dr. Wirth is an avid astronomer with a passion for sharing his love of space with the public. He studied physics, math, and astronomy at Northwestern University before earning his Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where his thesis exploited early data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Greg spent 16 years on Hawaii’s Big Island at the renowned W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and has lived in Longmont since 2014. He now serves as an astronomer and systems engineer for Boulder-based BAE Systems, a leading American aerospace company with a long history of contributing to groundbreaking astrophysics missions like Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, and Deep Impact.

Following the talk by Greg, the observatory will be open for public viewing through our telescopes, weather permitting.

Celebrating 25 Years of serving the public.

Some photos from Berthoud High School's Monday Night Astronomy Class!!

Special Public Star Night – Friday, November 21, 2025

Little Thompson Observatory

Doors Open: 7:00 | Guest Speaker NA | Observing at LTO: 7:00-10:00

No Speaker this month

While we don't have a speaker this month we will be open for you to come out and look through our large 24 inch Newtonian, 18 inch Cassegrain and 6 inch Astro-Physics telescopes.

Please come on out and have some fun looking at the wonders of the universe.

The observatory will be open for public viewing through our large telescopes, weather permitting.

Celebrating 25 Years of serving the public.

Berthoud's LTO Allsky camera captured Tuesday night's strong aurora as a color video,
https://lto.free.nf/allsky/videos/allsky-20251111.mp4

The lower right 3 vertical dots allow a slow playback speed of 0.25.
North is toward the right.
Local time is at top left.
Tap on video to pause the play.

The red and green aurora is visible after the football field lights turn off at 7pm,
and flares again about 9:31-10:20pm, and 1:39am, 2:30am, 3:15am, and 3:30am.

Also seen, about 1130pm, is an east-west faint red big SAR arc related to the Earth ring current with millions of amps of electrical current that heated the upper atosmosphere red,
https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2021/11/22/3308

The LTO north meteor camera provides more aurora detail (in UTC London time, 5 hours ahead),
https://globalmeteornetwork.org/weblog/US/US005N/US005N_20251112_003311_136582_detected

This Wednesday page speaks of last night's aurora,
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=12&month=11&year=2025
and says maybe also tonight Wednesday.

Your phone camera may see the aurora better than your eyes.

Little Thompson Observatory
Just northeast of the Berthoud High School, red lights near football field
850 Spartan Ave
Berthoud, CO 80513
40.29959607668775, -105.08445744478092
http://www.starkids.org

LTO is celebrating 26 years of public service.
Reservations are not needed for our Public Star Nights on 3rd Fridays of every month

🌟 Public Star Night

📅 Friday, October 24, 2024

📍 Little Thompson Observatory

⏰ Doors Open: 7:00 PM | Guest Speaker NA | Observing at LTO: 7:00-10:00 PM

No Speaker this month

While we don't have a speaker this month, we will be open for you to look through our large 18 inch Cassegrain and 6 inch Astro-Physics telescopes.

While we don't have a speaker this month, we will be open for you to come out and look through our large 18 inch Cassegrain and 6 inch Astro-Physics telescopes.

The observatory will be open for public viewing through our large telescopes, weather permitting.

Celebrating 25 Years of serving the public.

Public Star Night – Friday, September 19, 2025
"String Theory" with John Ensworth and Telescope Viewing

Doors Open: 7:00PM | Guest Speaker 7:30PM | Observing at LTO: 8:30-10:00PM

Special Events | Little Thompson Observatory Join us for an exciting update on the latest developments in string theory, spotlighting the groundbreaking work of physicist Cumrun Vafa and the Swampland Project! Building on previous talks at this observatory, this presentation will explore how Vafa’s pioneering ideas are shaping our understand...

Public Star Night – Friday, August 15, 2025

Doors Open: 7:00 | Guest Speaker: 7:30-8:30 | Observing at LTO: 8:30-10:00

Insights from OSIRIS-REx and Asteroid Bennu: What Sample Return Has Revealed and Implications for Remote Measurements of Primitive Asteroids by
Victoria Hamilton, Ph.D.

The primary objective of NASA’s Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission is to explore and return a pristine sample from the asteroid Bennu to help scientists understand the origin and evolution of our solar system and, ultimately, how life began. The mission science team has studied numerous aspects of the sample to understand the formation and alteration environments of the asteroid and compare its properties to those of another sample from the asteroid Ryugu. This presentation will review some key early results in these areas and highlight direct comparison to infrared data collected at the asteroid to understand the implications for remote measurements of other asteroids for which we do not have samples.
Dr. Vicky Hamilton is an Institute Scientist at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. She received her Ph.D. from Arizona State University and her A.B. from Occidental College. She is a geologist specializing in laboratory spectroscopy of minerals, meteorites, and returned samples, numerical modeling of infrared spectra, and infrared remote sensing of planetary surfaces to determine composition and physical properties. She has been a science team Co-Investigator and Deputy Instrument Scientist/Principal Investigator on NASA planetary science flight missions to Mars and asteroids, including Mars Global Surveyor, 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Science Laboratory, OSIRIS-REx, and Lucy. She is also the Chair of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), a research community-based, interdisciplinary forum providing the science input needed to plan and prioritize NASA’s Mars exploration activities.

Following the talk by Vicky, the observatory will be open for public viewing through our telescopes, weather permitting.

2 days left to register for the STEM Summer Camp!

Students will engage with their peers while designing and problem solving to create fun projects like an egg drop and a marshmallow, and a spaghetti structure.

Saturday, July 26, 9am - 2pm
$20 suggested donation
850 Spartan Ave. Berthoud, CO

Register here:
https://forms.gle/3pTM6nJ1YCWDRhj79

Questions?:
[email protected]

Public Star Night

Friday, June 20, 2025

Doors Open: 7:00PM | Guest Speaker: 7:30PM | Observing at LTO: 8:30-10:00PM

Protecting Dark Skies for All - A special presentation by Suzanne Metlay, Ph.D.

Following a special feature from the Town of Berthoud on the importance of protecting our local dark skies, Suzanne Metlay will return to LTO for summer solstice and a discussion about dark skies elsewhere in the nation and world. A serious concern is balancing economic issues with the health benefits, environmental outcomes, and tourism draw of dark skies. Specifically, we will look at where some of the world’s premiere telescopes are located and the viability of keeping those places safe for astronomy.

Suzanne Metlay, Ph.D. is full-time faculty in Earth & Space Sciences Teacher Education at Western Governors University, a fully online non-profit university founded in 1997 by 19 governors of western states, including Colorado. Previously, Suzanne taught astronomy and geology at Front Range Community College in Longmont and Fort Collins, was Operations Director for Secure World Foundation in Superior, and served as Education Programs Manager at CU-Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium. Currently, Suzanne is a past President of the Teacher Education Division of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, and serves on the Advocacy Committee.

Suzanne has a BA in History and Science from Harvard University and a PhD in Geology and Planetary Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal from the Department of the Navy and National Science Foundation for fieldwork conducted

Following the talk by Suzanne, the observatory will be open for public viewing through our telescopes, weather permitting.

Celebrating 25 Years of serving the public.

Note that reservations are not required for our Public Star Nights.