Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Launches New Look Up Program

Kelly Bernatzky • November 16, 2021

Loines Observatory is a truly unique location, for both Nantucket and beyond, and should be experienced by all Nantucket residents. As one of two observatories on Nantucket, the other being the Maria Mitchell Association’s (MMA) historic Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory, Loines Observatory serves as the island’s beacon for learning about astronomy and Maria Mitchell’s legacy as America’s first female astronomer. To continue the MMA’s commitment to making science education accessible for island families and to share this special experience, the MMA is thrilled to announce our new “Look Up” Program, launching in December 2021.

 

The MMA’s Look Up Program provides the opportunity for every student in the Nantucket school system, public and private, to visit Loines Observatory and learn from our professional astronomers. Each month, from December through May, the MMA will host a special version of our Open Night program geared towards children aged five through eighteen. Students will be invited to attend the Look Up Program with their families entirely free-of-charge. We also welcome all teachers and other school employees to join us for this program. “Nantucket is so fortunate to have the darkest skies and to be one of twenty observatories in Massachusetts – we are excited to share the experience of stargazing with the local community and grateful to make it accessible to all families,” the MMA’s Executive Director, Joanna Roche, shares. This program is generously funded by the Weezie Foundation, along with support from our donors.

 

At the Look Up Program, MMA astronomers will lead constellation tours and guide participants through different viewing stations outside the observatory domes. Students will be able to peek at our historic 8-inch Alvan Clark refractor and our modern 24-inch research telescope and then admire their live views projected on large screens outdoors. Students will have the chance to view the Moon, planets, star clusters, nebulae, and even other galaxies! If it’s a particularly dark and clear night, the Milky Way will be visible.

 

Students will also have the opportunity to talk with professional astronomers and learn about the cutting-edge research being conducted at the Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO). Much of this research is accomplished through the MMO-hosted National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) program. For more than sixty years, the MMO has offered summer research opportunities in astronomy and astrophysics for students from all over the country. Each summer, six interns selected from over 300 applicants join the MMO and work on individual research projects under the guidance of experienced astronomers. In 2009, this program received the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Obama and in the past six years, five NSF-REU interns have been recipients of the competitive Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award from the American Astronomical Society for their research at the MMO.

 

As part of this program, all Nantucket students will receive a free star chart from the MMA through their school to promote scientific learning outside of the classroom and to invite them to join the MMA at an in-person Look Up Program. When students arrive at Loines Observatory for the in-person component, they will receive a special Look Up t-shirt to celebrate their participation in this program. The MMA will also have a Spanish translator at all Look Up Programs in an effort to increase accessibility. The MMA’s Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson, says, “We are really excited to be able to offer free Open Nights at the Loines Observatory for local children and their families ̶ and we hope everyone will take advantage of this special Nantucket resource!”

 

The schedule for the “Look Up” Program for 2021/2022 is as follows:

 

Wednesday, December 8th, 6-7:30PM

Thursday, December 9th, 6-7:30PM

 

Wednesday, January 19th, 6-7PM

Friday, January 21st, 6-7PM

 

Wednesday, February 2nd, 6-7PM

Friday, February 4th, 6-7PM

 

Wednesday, March 9th, 7-8PM

Friday, March 11th, 7-8PM

 

Wednesday, April 6th, 8-9PM

Friday, April 8th, 8-9PM

 

Wednesday, May 4th, 8-9PM

Friday, May 6th, 8-9PM

 

Throughout her life, Maria Mitchell believed in the importance of “learning by doing.” While a professor at Vassar College, this philosophy led to her lasting impact on the women who took her astronomy and mathematics courses, many of whom went on to become astronomers, scientists, and educators themselves.

 

Today, the MMA continues with this legacy to cultivate a curiosity for the Universe and the natural world. With this spark of curiosity, the MMA hopes to generate the next generation of scientists and environmental stewards. It is also this philosophy that inspires the name “Look Up,” aiming to open the Universe to curious minds and allow people to see what before was unseen. As Mitchell once said, "We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.”

 

The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

November 16, 2021

Contact: Kelly Bernatzky, Development Associate

kbernatzky@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Soups On!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 9, 2026
You know the cold has arrived when I make the first soup of the season. I did just that this weekend – perhaps a little later than normal because all of a sudden it got cold at night and we have had three frosts in a row – the first of the season on Friday night (October 23, 2026). My first: Portuguese Kale Soup from a recipe found long ago in Yankee Magazine . This is my husband’s favorite and I “Italian-ize” it (I am half Italian) by having grated parmesan to sprinkle on top which also helps add salt if it’s lacking. I know – horrors! But don’t we all bring some of our backgrounds to the table – so to speak – when it comes to augmenting recipes? Then, what’s even better is you can freeze most of the soups – and then you have a ready meal for another time. It makes you realize, yet again, how difficult things were 100 or more years – certainly more – ago. Imagine cooking for twelve people, as Maria Mitchell’s mother did, and not being able to preserve or set aside much of what you made as there were not storage techniques or technology that would allow for such a thing. Just the cooking alone – never mind putting things by like preserves or salt cod or something – for twelve people! Poor Lydia! I can barely cook for three! Good thing my husband cooks a lot. Though he HATES baking so that’s where I still have a place at the counter!  I am looking forward to more soups – not sure what is next. Perhaps Curried Lentil – another good one that freezes well. My Mother just dug one out of her freezer from last winter and it was still good! JNLF

Applesauce!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 2, 2026
Early October is a time to make something I love – applesauce. It’s one of my favorite things. Ironically, when I was a baby, I did not like it. But because I ate very little – and my Mother was worried because I was such a skinny baby (not anymore!) – my Other Nana (great grandmother) made a lot of applesauce because my Mother said I ate it. I did not – but my Mother could not tell her Nana (grandmother) that and disappoint her. So, I think my parents ate a lot of applesauce back in the early 1970s. I sort of dread making it though – which is silly because it’s very easy and I always forget that until I am making it. You only have to core and slice the apples – you leave on the peels. That is what gives the applesauce – which uses McIntosh apples (my fave!) – its pink color. And with some lemon and then some sugar – you’ve got the best tasting applesauce. And it smells so good while it’s cooking! It is also freezable so once cool – it goes into winter hibernation to be brought out for specific sorts of meals. Putting food by – as Lydia Coleman Mitchell once did for her family of 12! I was a bit late this year, but over the weekend of October 24, apples were cooking on my stove resulting in the first applesauce accompanied meal of the fall and winter season. JNLF

Bang, Clang, Hiss!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • October 26, 2026
I grew up, quite literally, with hot water radiators in a Colonial Revival from the 1920s.  There was a huge boiler in the basement that chugged and blew hot belching air. It took up one whole area of the basement and I avoided it. I could hang over on the stairs and stare at its flames at the bottom. It scared me. It not only kept the basement very warm but also very dry. While the house had been built in an area that began to slope at our property, between the furnace and the clever drainage system installed by the builders of the house in the 1920s, our basement was always dry. My mother, the queen of rebates (this is the 1970s and 1980s), had her “rebate and coupon table” right in front of this furnace. I remember it always glowed – and I would not doubt that it still had some asbestos around some of its pipes. Maybe another reason I stayed away – perhaps I was warned away at an early age not just because I could burn myself! One of my fondest memories of this house was the clang and hiss of the heaters in the winter. It made me feel instantly cozy, as if I was wrapped in a nice warm quilt. If I was in bed at night and it was snowing, all the more warmth and cozy feeling. It was comforting and a sound and feel I still associate with snow and winter. The street light and the snow falling, spiraling down in that pinkish gold of the light – and the hoped for snow day to come! Forced air systems just don’t do the same thing. And, they suck all the moisture out of the house to boot! They do keep a house quite warm though – but still not the same – and I miss that humidity as do my plants. I reflect back on the hot water radiators – those old cast iron loopy radiators with the valve and perhaps a radiator box to cover them – as it if they kept me super warm. They didn’t. We kept our house at 63F – a lesson I still follow – and it was a big old Colonial-style house so it could be drafty. One reason we had a Franklin stove in our family room and quilts for nighttime television watching! So many times over the course of a winter, I think of that house where I spent about twenty years of my life, and remember the, “Bang, Clang, Hiss!” of the radiators and the coziness they projected. And while, it wasn’t always warm, it was a lot warmer that the Mitchell House would have been in February! JNLF
Show More