The Birth of the Maria Mitchell Observatory: Celebrating Over 100 Years of Discovery

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 30, 2025

As we are now complete with the conservation of the historic Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO), I thought it would be good to post a series of blogs concerning it history and activities, as well as some of the amazing people who have made it what it is over the last 100 plus years. Therefore, over the next few weeks, the focus will be on the MMO.  And it is now open for tours – Monday through Saturday 11-1PM.


Founded in 1902, the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) had its beginnings in the Mitchell House where Maria Mitchell was born. Over the first few years, the preservation of the Mitchell House, family artifacts, and the collection and display of Nantucket’s native flora and fauna, as well as a small library, were the key components of the MMA. Special “Moon Evenings” were held on the lawn and people observed Nantucket’s night skies using several small telescopes, including William and Maria Mitchell’s two-and-three-quarter-inch Dollond telescope.


The popular evenings led to the inevitable – a desire and need to expand based on the demands of the visitors to, and members of, the MMA. In 1906, Lydia Hinchman, a founder of the MMA and a family member, purchased the house and lot adjacent to the Mitchell House. The house – once the home of William Mitchell’s father and mother – was taken down.


The MMA began a dialogue with the Harvard College Observatory and its director, Edward Pickering, Ph.D. The connection to Harvard was to become essential to the success of the beginning years of the Maria Mitchell Observatory and continued a legacy of friendship and work – Maria Mitchell and her father worked with the Bonds who once ran the observatory at Harvard and the families were close friends.


Besides his assistance, Pickering asked a member of his staff, Annie Jump Cannon, to assist the MMA. This “provided an indispensable collaboration for Nantucket astronomy,” with Cannon spending two weeks on the island in 1906 and 1907 lecturing and teaching. While back at Harvard, she continued to teach the students on Nantucket by mail. Cannon would go on to be recognized as the leading woman astronomer of her generation and as the founder of the MMA’s Astronomy Department.


JNLF

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Glass Plate Photographic Collection

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 4, 2025
With the help of Edward Pickering from Harvard, the MMA was able to develop a research program and realized that a photographic telescope would be necessary. Funds were raised and by November 1913, a 7.5-inch photographic telescope was installed. Using Maria Mitchell’s 5-inch Alvan Clark telescope as a guide for the larger photographic telescope, the photographic telescope had a lens from Thomas Cooke and Sons of York, England and a cast-iron pier, mount, and clockwork by Alvan Clark & Sons in Cambridge, MA. The pier, mount, and clockwork are still present in the MMO – the pier and mount still utilized but by a 17-inch research telescope purchased with a grant from the National Science Foundation. The glass plates taken of the night sky at the MMO total more than 8,000 and they are still utilized for research. They capture a moment in the night sky that can never be captured again – just like a regular photograph. In order to capture the image of the night sky, exposures could last for as long as three hours or more. Glass plates were heavily used for researching variable stars. They also afforded opportunities for new discoveries that could go unnoticed when one looked through a telescope by eye. Glass plates are gelatin-coated dry plate negatives that first came into use in the 1870s. They were utilized well into the late twentieth century particularly because they did not shrink or deform like plastic film. At the MMA, we continued to take glass plates of the night sky until 1995 when we had the opportunity and funding to update to a CCD camera – charge-coupled devices. While the CCDs provided many improvements, they still did not have the detecting area and resolution of glass plates. Technology continues to evolve, and the MMA with it, as we work with new methods to capture the night sky photographically. JNLF

Keep Calm and Bird On: August 2025

August 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association’s National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Interns Present Summer Astronomy Research Projects

August 1, 2025
NANTUCKET, MA— Please join us in person at the Maria Mitchell Association’s Research Center, 2 Vestal Street, or online via Zoom, on Wednesday, August 6, 5pm – 7pm, for a very special presentation of this summer’s astronomy research. The MMA’s National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) 2025 interns will present their research on everything from glowing supernovae and mysterious variable stars to ways dust affects the light we see. The MMA’s Maria Mitchell Observatory operates the NSF-REU program each summer and has done so for decades. The program, funded by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation, allows the MMA to bring six top undergraduate students to the MMA each summer who are selected out of a pool of over 250 applicants from around the United States. The NSF-REU interns come to Nantucket for ten to twelve weeks during the summer to participate in astrophysics research projects. While on Nantucket, the NSF-REU interns also participate in the outreach efforts of the Astronomy Department, primarily by hosting public Open Nights at the Loines Observatory. This summer’s five NSF-REU interns and their research presentations are: Madison Gerard (University of Texas at Austin): How Low Can You Glow? Analyzing the Low-Luminosity SN IIP 2024abfl Kaylee Perez (Texas State University): How Dust Changes the Light We See: Exploring the Link Between Dust Extinction and Attenuation with Simulated Data Lauren Barkey (California Poly Pomona): Peek-a-Boo!: Exploring the NEOWISE Lightcurves of R Coronae Borealis Variable Stars Aiden Agostinelli (University of Montana) & Ben Radmore (University of Michigan): When the Dust Settles: Late-Time Infrared Imaging of SN 2011ja This event is free to the public. This presentation is offered both in person and online via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Register for in person here : https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Science-Speaker-Series---MMA-x-NSF-REU-Interns-A Register for Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_U5mGYBdESzKI8z_HX835eA The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA), founded in 1902, is a recognized leader in inspiring and training the next generation of astronomers and scientists. Since the Astronomy Department’s inception, hundreds of undergraduate students, the great majority of them women, have discovered the joy of doing astronomical research surrounded by the natural beauty and dark skies of Nantucket Island. Many have gone on to successful careers as astronomers at leading universities, observatories, and other organizations. In fact, it is estimated that one of every twenty American women PhDs in astronomy today acquired their first research experience at the MMA’s Maria Mitchell Observatory. The organization’s success in STEM education was recognized in 2009 with the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Obama for its half-century long program of mentoring student research in astronomy. Over the years, several MMA NSF-REU interns have won the prestigious Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award, including in each of the past five American Astronomical Society winter meetings, a testament to the quality of the MMA’s astronomy internship program. Approximately 90% of MMA astronomy interns have gone on to astrophysics Ph.D. programs. The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first female professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. 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. ###
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