E-Comet Newsletter of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association |
|
Dear Friends of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association:
Let curiosity be your compass.
Recently, we had a pile of slush in our driveway. Though in a hurry, like we so often are, I mused for a moment watching my young daughter squish the snowy slush under her pink snow boots. In that moment, she learned about physics, weather, and cause and effect. Her curiosity led her to discovery. This is essential. It is so often found in young children and lost as we grow. Much like Maria, atop the now Pacific National Bank, her curiosity led to her greatest discovery. What will your curiosity lead you to? How can you spark curiosity for those around you? Right now, you can sign up your children or grandchildren for our summer camps where curiosity in nature is the chief compass. You can join us online for our upcoming Winter Science Speaker Series and get curious about the land, sea, and sky. I look forward to seeing you there!
Warm Regards,
|
|
Jason Bridges
Interim Executive Director
|
|
Notice anything...different about mariamitchell.org? If you've visited our website in the past few weeks, you might have noted some pretty big changes!
We are very excited to announce the official launch of our new website. With this refreshed look, we hope to be able to better share the story of Maria Mitchell and her imaginative approach to scientific learning with our visitors, members, and new friends wherever they are. We would like to extend a huge thank you to our designers at Moor Studio and to the Community Foundation for Nantucket's ReMain Nantucket Fund whose generous grant enabled us to pursue this project.
Haven't visited the new site yet? Be sure to check it out here!
|
|
Nantucket Science Festival 2021 |
|
Since 2015, the Maria Mitchell Association has joined forces with the Nantucket Community School to host an annual Nantucket Science Festival. Like 2020, we are planning a COVID-safe version of this event! We hope you will be able to join us for activities celebrating all things STEAM from March 13-March 20.
Together with our community partners, we will offer:
Activity Kits
Science Demos Via YouTube
Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
Video Contests
And More!
The Nantucket Science Festival is made possible with the generosity of our partners, volunteers, and sponsors. We would like to give a huge thank you to the Nantucket Community School, the Nantucket Land Council, the National Informal STEM Education Network, Dr. & Mrs. David and Beverly Barlow, the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.
|
|
As part of our Nantucket Science Festival, we are excited to offer three FREE Virtual Open Nights this month! The first will be in English on Sunday, March 14th from 8-9PM. The second will be in Spanish on Thursday, March 18th from 8-9PM, followed by the third session in English from 9-10PM.
Join our professional astronomers for an impressive tour of Nantucket’s night sky through a live-streamed telescope. Our astronomers will focus on deep sky objects, including star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. In case of inclement weather, our astronomers will still hold the Virtual Open Night and use non-live images to explore the night sky. All three Open Nights will feature the same objects.
|
|
Virtual Open Night:
Sunday, March 14th, 8-9 PM
Noche Abierta Virtual en Español:
Jueves, 18 de marzo, 8-9PM
Virtual Open Night:
Thursday, March 18th, 9-10 PM
|
|
Camp registration officially opened for all on February 16th and spots are filling up quickly! To ensure safety regarding COVID-19, our spaces are limited this year. Reserve your spot with us today!
Thanks to the generosity of EGCF, a nonprofit foundation, the Maria Mitchell Association is offering a minimum of 12 scholarships for eligible Nantucket residents and visitors. We are able to offer both partial and full scholarships. Please visit our website for more information and our scholarship application.
|
|
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews
|
|
Keep Calm and Bird On
By Ginger Andrews
|
|
March can be a formidable time to go birding. Warm sunny calm days are few, interspersed with gales of wind, rain, or the occasional surprise blizzard—but it also carries the promise of Spring. March is when we look for the first American Oystercatchers to return from Cedar Key, other parts of Florida, or even as far south as Honduras. Impervious to the chill, they will be returning home, looking for mates, territory, or just replenishing their reserves from the trip.
It’s also a great time to catch birds before they head north. What’s missing from your list of winter visitors? Long-tailed Ducks need a bit more effort this year, but they can be found in small numbers, cruising past Codfish Park. They are more or less continuously molting, so check out the different plumages as males and females alter their seasonal patterns of black and white. Razorbills also reward a persistent sea-watcher. And it usually takes a telescope, but a few Harlequin Ducks can sometimes be picked out among the Scoters at Quidnet or Hoick’s Hollow.
Pond ducks that might begin to be feeling a bit restless include Canvasbacks, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Greater and Lesser Scaup, and of course our favorite perennial rarity, the Tufted Duck. American Coot are also going to be picking up stakes soon.
Ospreys will be coming back too, usually around the third week of March. One has consistently reclaimed its nest pole every year on the 24th. These powerful, magnificent birds travel thousands of miles each year. They waste no time when they get back, rebuilding the nest as part of their annual courtship.
So bundle up and remember what the Irish say: there’s no bad weather, just improper dressin’.
|
|
Winter Science Speaker Series |
|
Join the Maria Mitchell Association this winter as we welcome back some of our amazing intern alumni to discuss their fascinating research and projects. Topics will include open science, terrestrial biology, astronomy, and more!
Our FREE speaker series is scheduled for alternating Wednesdays between now and March 24th, 7– 8PM EST via Zoom. To register for a talk, please visit our website:
Read more below about our upcoming speakers!
|
|
The Debris Diet: How Microplastics are Infiltrating the Marine Food Chain
with Izzy Gaw
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10
7-8PM | ZOOM
One of the most pervasive anthropogenic stressors facing marine life today is plastic debris. In 2010, an estimated 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the ocean, and these input estimates are slated to increase by an order of magnitude by 2025. One of the most challenging aspects of marine debris management is that over time plastics break down into microplastics (<5 mm in size) for which the total degradation time is unknown. Not only are these ubiquitous microplastics contaminating marine fauna and their habitats, but they also have the potential to absorb pollutants thus posing a threat to ocean food webs. After fauna ingest these pollutant-absorbent microplastics, the toxins can bioaccumulate and biomagnify, which can negatively affect fish behavior and physiology. While the effects of pollutant-absorbent microplastics are relatively well studied, the baseline physiological effects of uncontaminated plastics are not well understood. This talk will explore how fauna ingest these microplastics and what happens to the microplastics inside their bodies.
|
|
Hidden Patterns in Galaxy Motions: What They Can Tell Us About the Universe
with Rachel Bowyer
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24
7-8PM | ZOOM
Galaxies move at hundreds of miles per second through space, yet they are so far away, that they appear stationary to us on Earth. However, recent advancements in observing techniques have made it possible to observe the motion of hundreds of thousands of galaxies all across the sky. These observations are revealing complex, streaming and swirling patterns in galaxy motions that are rich in information about our Universe’s formation and evolution. Specifically, these motions can tell us about the formation of structure in the Universe and about primordial gravitational waves. In this talk, Bowyer will discuss the emerging field of “real-time cosmology” and how patterns in galaxy motions can be used to study the early Universe.
|
|
NASA's Perserverance rover successfully landed on Mars on February 18th.
Check out WCAI's podcast, "Looking Skyward" featuring MMO Director, Dr. Regina Jorgenson to hear what she has to say about the latest mission to mars, and what it hopes to accomplish.
|
|
If you missed Tanveer Karim's Winter Science Speaker Series presentation, you can find the recording of his talk entitled "Unraveling the Universe with Spectroscopy and Big Data" on our YouTube channel.
|
|
|
Watch the most recent Winter Science Speaker Series lecture with Abby Mintz entitled "From Near to Far: Exploring How Stars Form and Galaxies Evolve" on our YouTube channel.
|
|
|
MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
|
|
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Helene Weld, President
Judy MacLeod, First Vice President
Frances Symes, Second Vice President
Curt Burwell, Treasurer
Joseph E. Santucci Jr., Clerk
MEMBERS
Richard Bard
Beverly Barlow
Margaret Falk
Chris Griffiths
John Hartner
Carolyn Holt
Toni McKerrow
Michael Nelson
Molly Paiement
Mary Archibald (Bebe) Poor, D.V.M., M.S.
Katherine Rhode, Ph.D.
Brian Sullivan
Jane Tausig
|
|
HONORARY MEMBERS
Howard Blitman†
Sally Charpie
John Daniels
Daniel Drake
Joan Gulley
Judith Lee
Malcolm MacNab, M.D., Ph.D.
Eileen McGrath
Nathaniel Philbrick
Anne P. Strain
Edward Symes, III
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
