Maria Mitchell Association Monthly e-Comet Newsletter

Dear Friends –

It was a great privilege to travel to Seattle last month to attend the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meeting with Jónelle Gurley to see our interns present their research papers from summer 2022. Our Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson, mentored six exceptional students, who shared their papers via iPoster with the larger astronomical community. This is truly the legacy of Maria Mitchell in action. In addition, we hosted a breakfast for MMA Alumni (past interns) to network and reconnect. We were fortunate to have new MMA Board member, Sarah Ward, join us at the breakfast and to host myself and Jónelle for a talk at The Sunset Club of Seattle on the MMA. Thank you, Sarah! 

Jónelle and I also attended a talk by UC Santa Cruz Professor, Dr. Nia Imara, a speaker at AAS who spoke about dwarf universes and molecular clouds. She also runs a non-profit, called Onaketa, that aims to provide free STEM tutoring and other educational resources for people of color. She was certainly impressive. 

Please join us this month for one of our many programs—go on an owl quest, visit the Natural Science Museum, or tune in to our Science Speaker Series to hear Astronaut Dan Burcsh talk about his time at the International Space Station and the miniature Nantucket lightship baskets he made in space. 

We hope that you take the opportunity to get outside and look up at the stars. The international space station frequently passes above our island, the next time being tonight, February 1, at 6:46pm. It is incredible to imagine looking back on our planet and taking in that view! 

My best,

Joanna

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." – Vincent Van Gogh

Joanna Roche

Executive Director

[email protected]

Winter After School Series

Join us for a series of outdoor exploration and hands-on learning after school! This winter series will be 3 days per week over 4 weeks, not including Winter Break. Can't join the whole series or every day? Still let us know you're interested!

Each week, the program runs Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 2:20 to 4:45pm. Students will be picked up from NES & NIS, then depart to the Hinchman House Natural Science Museum or an outbound location. Parents/ guardians will pick up children at the museum at 7 Milk Street.

On island for February Break? Check back later for details on our program offerings for that week!

Science Speaker Series Resumes This Month with Astronaut Daniel Bursch

Captain Dan Bursch, USN (retired), is a former Naval Flight Officer and astronaut. He completed four missions to space, including a 196-day mission to the International Space Station from December 2001 to June 2002 as a flight engineer on Expedition 4. 

You can hear Captain Bursch talk about his time working with Russian astronauts at the International Space Station—and his hobby of making mini Nantucket lightship baskets in space—as he kicks off our next Science Speaker Series on February 22, 2023 at 7pm at the Research Center. More details to come.

Keep Calm and Bird On

By Ginger Andrews

"If you don't look, you don't see. You have to go and look."

-Edith Andrews

Like many older birders, I resisted technology as an interruption of a pleasant way to experience the natural world. But I’m coming around to some of its useful aspects. One I’ve come to like is the recording feature. This enables eBird to suggest an identification for a sound. At first it was nice to have confirmation of sounds I had already learned. But it is also a challenge to learn more songs from less common birds or less-heard variations from more common ones.

The MMA Welcomes New Board Members

The MMA is thrilled to announce the recent addition of four new members to its Board of Directors: Tanya Forman, Karen Ketterer, Justin Schaeffer, and Sarah Ward. Last month, we introduced Sarah and Justin to you all. Today, we're excited to introduce Karen and Tanya.

Tanya Forman

Born and raised in Columbus, Texas (population 2800), Tanya McQueen Forman found her way to Nantucket some 17 years ago and has returned every year since. Now, she spends the majority of her time in Siasconset and waits patiently through winters in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach. She is mother to four children and a Norwich Terrier named Never.

Professionally, Tanya has combined her passions for design and communication, hosting home renovation television series for ABC, Lifetime, CW, A+E, and more. Her proudest professional accomplishment: winning a pair of Emmy Awards while building more than 300 homes for deserving families as a co-host of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Tanya was a board member of RCISD for eight years while her children were in school and is also a longtime Habitat for Humanity volunteer.

Having left her small town for Hollywood, Tanya cherishes Nantucket’s community, where change is possible and neighbors pitch in. She is beyond thrilled to join the MMA Board and looks forward to doing her part to advance its mission and legacy. 

Karen Ketterer

Karen was born and raised in Hong Kong and spent more than half her life living and working overseas, mostly in Asia. After nearly 20 years of experience in finance and marketing—encompassing investment banking, risk management, project finance, capital markets, wealth management, and micro-finance—she now focuses her time on pursuing philanthropic development roles in education and in the environment with small, non-profit organizations in Dover and Nantucket.  

Karen and her family live year-round in Dover, Massachusetts and spend their summers on Nantucket, where they’ve had a summer home since 1998. Over the years, her children have enjoyed many MMA programs and have volunteered their time at the Aquarium and the Natural Science Museum. 

As a faithful MMA member, Karen has long been impressed with the quality and breadth of MMA programs. She believes that engaging young minds, and providing opportunities for them to learn and give back to the community, is invaluable. 

2022 REU Intern Wins Best Poster Award

Last month, 2022 REU intern and Yale Astrophysics student, Anavi Uppal, won the Best Poster award at the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Brown University.

Anavi's award-winning presentation was about her research on galaxy black hole evolution during her internship with the MMA. This is the same work Anavi presented at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in Seattle earlier last month.

Photo of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) courtesy of NASA.

Rare Green Comet Shines Brightest Tonight

In the January 19 episode of our "Star Report" podcast, MMA post-baccalaureate research fellow, Fiona Powers Ozyurt, discusses a rare green comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF). The comet will be brightest and make its nearest Earth approach, on February 1, when it will be 28 million miles away. 

To see the comet, grab some binoculars, or a small telescope if you have one, and head outside after dark around 6pm and face the Northern sky. 

To give you an idea of just how rare this green comet is, some scientists estimate that it last visited Earth some 50,000 years ago, when the early Homo sapiens left Africa for the first time and encountered Neanderthals in west Asia.

You can learn more about C/2022 E3 (ZTF) by listening to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Looking Skyward

Listen to the podcast "Looking Skyward," with MMA Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson discusses the latest news in the world of astronomy on the local NPR station. This podcast is released every other week with CAI's John Basile.

Listen here!

Maria Mitchell's Attic

Learn more about Maria Mitchell and the MMA with "Maria Mitchell's Attic," a blog written on a weekly basis by MMA Deputy Director and Curator, Jascin Leonardo Finger.



Read here!

Our MMA gift selection includes cold weather goodies, science-themed pet supplies, and other gifts that represent the nature and history of Nantucket and the MMA.

The Maria Mitchell Association creates opportunities for all to develop a life-long passion for science through education, research, and first-hand exploration of the sky, land, and sea of Nantucket Island.

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