Maria Mitchell Association Monthly e-Comet Newsletter | |
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Dear Friends,
These golden October days have been plentiful, and I hope you got out and enjoyed family scalloping month! It was much better than last year's harvest and I was grateful to have been part of special group outing with Board Member, Brian Sullivan, and MMA supporter, Lo McShay. It was rewarding to see first-hand the wonder and excitement this team from NYC experienced at their first scallop harvest. I even got enough for dinner!
This month our Look Up program returns, and we invite all children and families to come to Loines Observatory and experience the magic of Nantucket’s dark skies. This program is free courtesy of the Weezie Foundation, and we are grateful for their support and commitment to making this accessible to all members of our island community.
Gratitude is often synonymous with the month of November, Thanksgiving, and gifting season – a time for counting and sharing blessings. We are grateful for the privilege of sharing Maria Mitchell’s message of reverence for nature, curiosity, and learning by doing. We are grateful for the many visitors and supporters who find a sense of wonder and delight in the exploration of the natural world. And we are so very grateful and appreciative of your financial support that makes all of this possible.
Our heartfelt thanks for your generosity,
Joanna
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Recap: 2022 Fifth Grade Trees in the Community | |
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MMA staff and interns delivered 150 trees to fifth grade students and teachers across all three schools on the island: Nantucket Intermediate School, Nantucket New School, and Nantucket Lighthouse School. As part of the MMA's Fifth Grade Trees in the Community program, led by MMA Education Director, Camden Palm, Nantucket students received an in-classroom lesson focusing on tree anatomy, tree identification, and tree importance in the community.
Students chose one of five native tree species to plant in their own backyards: White Oak, Flowering Dogwood, American Elm, Eastern Red Cedar, and Red Maple. The following day, MMA staff delivered the tree saplings to the classrooms and led an outdoor planting demonstration, empowering students with information on how to care for their trees moving forward.
A gracious and heartfelt thank you to the Nantucket Garden Club for their funding of this program. For over a decade, students have been able to learn more about native trees and the importance of growing native species thanks to this program!
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2022 Barn Owl Fall Survey Report
From Bob Kennedy
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Hi Friends of Nantucket Barn Owls!
The Maria Mitchell Association’s 2022 Fall Nantucket Barn Owl Nest Box Survey took place from Tuesday, Sept. 27, to Friday, Sept. 30. Volunteers Kim and Tom Griswold, Mitch Blake, and I checked 64 nest boxes, installed two new nest boxes, and selected a location for one more. With such a tight schedule, we are sorry if we missed some of you along the way!
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Recap: 2022 Aquarium Release Day | |
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Thank you to the nearly 300 participants who joined us on our annual Aquarium Release Day to return (most of) our Aquarium inhabitants back to their ocean home. This was the MMA's first in-person release day since 2019, and our first Release Day with a popcorn machine!
In total, we released over 750 marine organisms back into the Nantucket Harbor, reuniting them with their sea mates! More complex creatures, like jellyfish and blue crabs, were carefully handled and released by Aquarium staff at the end of the event, after participants left.
Didn't make it to the Aquarium this year? There's still a chance to meet our marine year-rounders, like the tropical fish, which are on display at the MMA Natural Science Museum through the spring!
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November 2022 After School Discovery Series | |
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Join us for outdoor exploration and hands-on natural science! This is a four-part series that explores Nantucket Island after school. Can't join the whole series? Join us for a day!
Participants will be picked up from NIS at 2:20pm, and depart to the Maria Mitchell Association Natural Science Museum or an outbound location. Pick up will be at 4:50pm at the Natural Science Museum, 7 Milk Street.
This program is for grades 3-5. Program dates are November 2, 9, 16, and 30. Scholarships and Financial Aid available on our website with generous support from the Adam Bloom Scholarship Foundation.
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Series:
Members: $140
Non-Members: $215
Single Day:
Members: $45
Non-Members: $55
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Keep Calm and Bird On
By Ginger Andrews
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More and more of our winter ducks will be arriving every day as the season progresses, providing whole new bird pictures in our ponds and marshes, as well as out to sea.
One species we wonder about every year around Thanksgiving is the Long-tailed Duck, formerly called Oldsquaws. Twice in living memory they have been one of the world’s great wildlife spectacles, with hundreds of thousands of birds flying, flowing, river-like, past Madaket beach at sunset. Big flights occurred in the 1980’s and early 2000’s. It was estimated to be perhaps 10% of the total world population. In recent years, only handfuls have turned up, and these often well offshore and requiring high-power optics to see. There are always a few, but will we see those flights again?
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"If you don't look, you don't see. You have to go and look."
-Edith Andrews
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Vote for MMA: 2023 Best of Cape Cod & Islands | |
Were you blown away by your visit to the Loines Observatory? Did your children develop a new appreciation for the outdoors during Discovery Camp? Spread the word by voting for any of the MMA's programs, events, or properties in the 2023 Best of Cape Cod & the Islands awards. | |
Summer 2023 internship opportunities are now posted on our website! Students studying marine biology, the natural sciences, astronomy, education, history/ art history/ historic preservation, non-profit development, and marketing are invited to apply. If you have a qualified undergraduate or graduate student in mind, who'd enjoy interning on picturesque Nantucket Island next summer, help us spread the word by sharing the link below! | |
Look Up is a special stargazing program geared towards children, aged 5-18. Participants will have the chance to view the Moon, planets, star clusters, nebulae, and even other galaxies! Visit our calendar to learn more. | |
MMA Astronomers use Largest Ground-based Optical Telescopes in the World for Remote Observing Run | |
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On October 27 and 28, MMA Astronomy Post-baccalaureate Research Fellows, Fiona Powers Ozyurt and Michele Woodland, stayed up late to remotely control the Keck II telescope in Hawai'i from the Vestal Street Observatory in Nantucket. Their goal? To perform observations of the host galaxies of fast radio bursts, also known as FRBs. However, nighttime in Hawai'i, nearly a quarter of the world away, means starting work at midnight in Nantucket and staying up until 1pm the following day!
The Keck Observatory is located at nearly 14,000 feet elevation, near the summit of Mauna Kea, but is accessed remotely by astronomers around the world who operate the telescopes’ scientific instruments and collect astronomical data. The 10-meter telescopes are essential tools for many research projects, so groups must participate in a competitive process of proposal submission to secure observing time.
Fiona and Michele are joining in on observations as part of the Fast and Fortunate for FRB Follow-up (F4) Collaboration, founded by MMA Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson, and her collaborators, and funded by a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation. The F4 Collaboration is using the Keck telescopes in an effort to probe the cosmic web, to understand what makes up the space between galaxies, and to identify the progenitors of the still mysterious fast radio bursts – extremely energetic and brief flashes of radio radiation.
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Credits: Ethan Tweedie Photography/W. M. Keck Observatory | |
NSF-REU Internships in Astronomy Now Open! | |
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Six internship positions with the MMA are now available for qualified undergraduate astronomy and physics students through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, which is supported by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
NSF-REU students at the MMA work on individualized research projects under the guidance of experienced astronomers. Click the link below for more information on these positions.
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Total Lunar Eclipse: November 8, 2022 | |
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In the early morning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 8, sky watchers in Nantucket (and in North America) will be able to catch a total lunar eclipse. This will be the second lunar eclipse of 2022 and the last total lunar eclipse until March 2025, so make sure to set your alarms and wake up early for this one!
The eclipse will begin at 3:02am EST on November 8, but won't be very noticeable at this point as the Moon enters the penumbral, or partial, shadow cast by the Earth. As a reminder, a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth and Moon are aligned just right so that that Moon passes through the shadow cast by the Earth. Because of this geometry, lunar eclipses always (and only) occur during a full Moon.
The full eclipse phase, when the Moon enters the darkest part of the shadow, will begin at 5:16am, with maximum eclipse occurring at 5:59am. At 6:20am, the Sun will rise, as the Moon sets shortly after at 6:25am while still in the fully eclipsed phase.
You don't need any special equipment to observe the lunar eclipse - just head outside and find a clear view of the night sky. As the Moon will be setting during the eclipse, be sure to find a clear view of the western horizon in order to catch the eclipsed moonset.
Keen observers may notice that once the Moon enters the full eclipse phase at 5:16am, it may appear to take on a deep reddish color. This red color is a result of sunlight traveling through the Earth's atmosphere and being refracted, or bent, in such a way that it hits the surface of the Moon. During this process, blue light is more easily scattered away by particles in the Earth's atmosphere, leaving red light to make the journey unimpeded. This same physical process explains why sunsets are red!
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Nantucket Student Dark Sky Art Contest | |
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Students in preschool through 8th grade are invited to submit their entries for the Dark Sky Art Contest, a joint initiative of the MMA, the Artists Association of Nantucket (AAN), the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, and Nantucket Lights.
Entries should be about the night sky, creatures that are active at night, or the study of the stars and planets. The deadline is November 17, 2022.
Need inspiration for your entry? Join our professional astronomers for a guided tour of Nantucket's night sky during Open Nights at Loines Observatory.
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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!
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The Nature of Nantucket and
The Star Report
Check out our own podcast, "The Nature of Nantucket," brought to you by 97.7 ACKFM. This program airs on 97.7 every Sunday at 7:20am. You can listen to full episodes on Apple or Spotify. While you're there, don't forget to check out our weekly Star Report, written and presented by MMA astronomy research fellows.
Listen here!
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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!
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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.
Support the Maria Mitchell Association:
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