E-Comet Newsletter of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association |
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Dear Friends of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association:
We are very excited to announce our Opening Day: June 7!
This summer, visit our lobster, Clementine, at the Aquarium, tour Nantucket’s starry skies at Loines Observatory during Open Nights, and travel back in time while exploring the Historic Mitchell House. We are thrilled to welcome you back to campus, and we can’t wait to share the work we have been doing.
Registration for Discovery Camp and Summer Programs is underway. There are many opportunities to get outside and “learn by doing” through bird walks, beach biology field trips, and meditations in nature. You can sign up for these, and other hands-on, experiential learnings programs, on our website.
Our Science Speaker Series kicks off in June with engaging presenters scheduled throughout the summer. In July, we are hosting our second annual Nantucket Green Crab Week in collaboration with the Nantucket Land Council.
Lastly, I hope your calendar is marked for our Stargazer Gala in August. This year, we will be gathering at a beautiful home on Hulbert Avenue for a night of dancing and celebrating the year’s achievements within the scientific community.
If you are back on island, I would love the chance to personally show you around the MMA's sites. Please reach out to me to set up a private appointment and learn more about the Maria Mitchell Association.
Warm Regards,
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Jason Bridges
Interim Executive Director
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We can't wait to see you this summer! On June 7, the Aquarium and Mitchell House will reopen.
Both properties are open for tours on Monday-Friday from 10AM-4PM and Saturdays from 10AM-1PM. Tours are available on a rolling basis throughout the day and do not require a reservation.
Due to capacity restrictions in 2021, we will not be offering property passes this summer. Instead, please visit our open properties, the Mitchell House and Aquarium, for separate entry tickets. If you have an unexpired property pass already in your possession, you will still be able to use it to visit one of our open properties mentioned above. Please bring it with you to the property you wish to visit.
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The Research Center will also be open for Open Hours every Friday from 1PM-5PM. This is a free, walk-in program! The Research Center can accommodate one household of up to five guests at a time. Masks are required.
The Natural Science Museum will not be open for tours, but will be open for select Summer Programs available by registration on our website.
Open Nights at Loines Observatory will begin on Monday, June 14th. Open Nights are offered on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9PM-10:30PM.
Our informative and popular Science Speaker Series will kick off on Wednesday, June 9. This weekly Wednesday lecture series from 7-8PM is free of charge for all and presented virtually via Zoom! The summer lineup will feature over a dozen scientists from Nantucket and beyond. A special thank you to our presenting sponsor Bank of America.
As of this time, masks are required for all in-person MMA programming and site visits.
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Wish Upon a Star Fundraiser — Win a Reserved Parking Space in Town!
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Once again, the MMA is delighted to offer a unique opportunity to win a reserved town parking space for the month of July in our Wish Upon a Star Fundraiser.
Between now and 12AM Tuesday, June 29, you can earn chances to win by making an online donation of $125 or higher to the Wish Upon a Star Fundraiser by clicking here.
The parking spaces are located at 33 Washington Street.
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On Wednesday, June 30 at 12PM, the MMA's Interim Executive Director, Jason Bridges, will draw two lucky winners, streamed via Instagram Live and Facebook Live, each receiving one private town parking space for the month of July.
All donations will support the MMA’s mission to create 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.
Please visit our website for more information or contact Logan Gomes, Director of Advancement, with any questions.
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Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium New Website |
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We are very excited to announce the new website for the Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium! With a refreshed look, we hope to spread the word about this unique Symposium designed to be a hands-on experience for attendees to actively discuss the barriers women in STEM face and collaboratively brainstorm solutions. At this multi-day event, keynote speakers, panels, and salon-style gatherings offer a unique environment in which all voices can be heard and encouraged. Participants connect with colleagues and mentors and devise strategies to encourage and keep girls in STEM and support women in STEM at the beginning, middle, and late career stages.
A special thank you to our designers at Moor Studio and to our Board of Directors whose generosity enabled us to pursue this project. Visit mmwss.org to see the new site!
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Tickets for the Stargazer Gala are on sale now and going quickly!
Join us for our largest fundraiser of the year. Party-goers will enjoy breathtaking views, dancing to The Sultans, delicious food by Island Kitchen, games, stargazing with our professional astronomers, and more! Come dance the night away all while celebrating and supporting the MMA and enjoying a good old-fashioned Nantucket gala.
Only forty tickets remain, so please don't delay in reserving yours! Purchase your tickets on our website or by calling us at (508) 228-9198. We look forward to seeing you under the stars and on the dance floor on August 5th!
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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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Keep Calm and Bird On
By Ginger Andrews
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June is baby bird month, and in some ways the hardest. Some adult birds stop singing. Birds on the nest are more secretive, unless a cat, dog, hawk or human blunders in. Many adults, usually the female, give award-wining performances of “Look at me, I’m injured, chase me,” to draw predators away from the nest—before taking off at top speed. This is what’s called a distraction display.
June is when the most patience is required, but also rewarded. If you find a nest, take time to watch avian parents at work. Watch young birds grow from naked, peeping, blind mouths to downy fuzzballs (see the Barn Owl to the right!), to pinfeathers, to flight feathers, graduating to awkward flight, growing agility, and dawning awareness.
If a corner with a nice messy tangle is allowed to exist in your backyard, it’s a sight you might be able to enjoy right at home. Birds need food, usually insects, so a no-spray, poison-free yard is a must. It should be a cat, dog, and deer-free area. Surprisingly, Bambi is not a vegetarian. To guard against hawks, some really dense shrub cover is also a must.
Then there is always the question, what do I do if I find a baby bird out of the nest? Usually, the answer is to leave it alone. Unless there’s an obvious injury, such as being caught by a cat, it’s likely that the parents are nearby, waiting for you to leave before returning to parental care. Mass Audubon has a good flow-chart for decision-making about intervention.
Barn Owl boxes were checked the last week in May; results were mixed. In a couple of boxes, dead adult owls were found. This is very unusual. Something is going on with Nantucket’s Barn Owls. We don’t yet know what, but we are currently looking over the survey data. More information to come.
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Become a rocket engineer! Blast off your own chemistry rocket with this activity, demonstrated by Georgia Stolle-McAllister, the 2020-2021 post-baccalaureate Research Fellow at the Maria Mitchell Observatory. Rockets that are designed by scientists and engineers at NASA to go into space work on a similar principle. Rocket engines burn fuel and turn it into hot gas that gets pushed out the back of the rocket, propelling the rocket upward.
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This video is also available in Spanish! Watch the translated version here!
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MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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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
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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†
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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. |
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