The Little Thompson Observatory

      850 Spartan Ave. Berthoud, CO 80513  

           Bringing science and math down to earth!

        Public Star Night – Friday, June 16, 2023

           Little Thompson Observatory

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

Healing the Ozone Hole

   A special presentation by

Dr. Suzanne Metlay

Ozone Hole Recovery: An International Success Story

Decades ago, following a research trip in Antarctica, Suzanne vacationed in New Zealand and suffered second degree burns on her back and shoulders just from being outdoors without sunscreen for an hour.

The Ozone layer provides natural screening protection around the Earth, but the thinning ozone hole near the south pole in the 1980s and ’90s offered significantly less UV protection.

Fortunately there has been an international effort to preserve our ozone layer. Come and hear a good news climate story – how globally we worked together to save the ozone.

Dr. Suzanne Metlay is full-time faculty in Geoscience 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 President of the Teacher Education Division of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

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 as a participant in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) in 1991.

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

For more information, please visit the LTO web site at www.starkids.org