The guest speakers for this public star night will be Deborah Price and Rebecca Dickson. The title of their presentation is “Dark Skies Matter”.
Light pollution blots out much of our night sky and prevents us from seeing the views that our ancestors enjoyed, but there are also other reasons to protect the night sky. More than half of wildlife species depend on darkness to survive, and a lack of light is important for human health.
Deborah Price, Natural History Program Specialist with Boulder County Parks & Open Space, and Rebecca Dickson, chair of the Sierra Club-Indian Peaks, will share why dark skies matter, what Boulder County is doing to monitor dark skies on open space and in urban areas, and what we can all do to help preserve darkness now and for the future. Brochures and information from the International Dark-Sky Association will be available for attendees.
Photo by Mike Lohr, Rabbit Mountain Open Space
Deborah Price has coordinated a dark sky monitoring project for Boulder County Parks & Open Space the past five years. The project is done in conjunction with other open space agencies along the Front Range. She is passionate about preserving dark skies, and likes the reminder it provides us that we are part of something much larger than just the earth. Deborah also coordinates astronomy programs for Boulder County.
Rebecca Dickson is the chair of the Sierra Club-Indian Peaks Group in Boulder County. She works to understand light pollution’s damaging effects on animals, insects, and humans and helps share that information with others. She has put on joint presentations with CU Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium and the International Dark-Sky Association on the dangers of light pollution and the wonders of a starry night sky.
Weather permitting after the presentation, visitors will be invited to look through the large telescope at various celestial objects. Public Star Nights are usually held the third Friday of each month, except July, when the LTO is closed for annual maintenance.
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 [1]