Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Welcomes Gail Walker, Geoff Clayton, and John Barentine as Featured Guests for the January Science Speaker Series, “How Dark is Nantucket’s Night Sky?”

January 13, 2025

NANTUCKET, MA—The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces that it will host Gail Walker, Geoff Clayton, and John Barentine, with moderator, Joanna Roche, as featured presenters for its January Science Speaker Series. Their presentation will take place on Wednesday, January 22 at 7pm via Zoom. This event is free to all.

 

“How Dark is Nantucket’s Night Sky?”

Join Gail Walker, founder of Nantucket Lights, Dr. Geoff Clayton, Interim Director of Astronomy at the MMA, and Dr. John Barentine, founder of Dark Sky Consulting, in a panel discussion moderated by the MMA’s Executive Director, Joanna Roche. Learn about the Nantucket Sky Quality Monitoring Project, a joint initiative of Nantucket Lights and the MMA launched in 2022 to collect ground-based measurements to determine how dark Nantucket's night sky is. The data collected to date establishes a baseline for assessing the effectiveness of efforts to mitigate light pollution going forward — and helps us understand how close we are to losing the ability to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. 

 

Nantucket Lights and the MMA will be explaining how this project works and plans going forward. John Barentine, retained to independently analyze the data collected so far, will discuss his findings and recommendations. 

 

Gail Walker is the founder and president of Nantucket Lights (https://nantucketlights.org), an all-volunteer, citizen advocacy group exclusively dedicated to preserving and protecting Nantucket’s nighttime environment and heritage of dark skies. A long-time summer resident of ‘Sconset, she began working on light pollution as a board member of the 'Sconset Civic Association following her retirement from the U.S. Department of Justice where she was a trial attorney for almost twenty years. In addition to leading Nantucket Lights, Walker serves on the Executive Committee of the Nantucket Civic League. 

 

Geoffrey Clayton received his Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Toronto. He has worked for the Universities of Wisconsin and Colorado, as well as for NASA. He spent twenty-seven years as a professor at Louisiana State University. His association with the MMA goes back almost sixty years. He attended lectures and attended Open Nights at the MMA when he was a child visiting Nantucket. He still appreciates the dark skies of Nantucket now that he lives on the island full time. 

 

John Barentine is the Principal Consultant and Executive Officer at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin and previously held staff positions at the National Solar Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the International Dark-Sky Association. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). He serves on light pollution committees of the AAS, IES and IAU, and co-leads the Community Engagement section of the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference.

 

Pre-registration is required to attend Zoom. To register for Zoom, use the registration link below:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_--Lju9KeTGGrxRJ4Dzihzw



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


###

For Immediate Release

January 13, 2025

Contact: Joanna Roche

jroche@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Curator Almost Eaten By Large Lobster

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 17, 2025
Clementine has finally molted! We at the MMA have been awaiting this for quite some time so I decided to re-post an old blog about Clementine. Well, not quite. But, part of my job is to also take care of all of the MMA properties. So, I headed over to check on one and what cleaning supplies are needed for the summer and for our staff spring clean-up of the site. In one room, some of the animals from the Aquarium over-winter. One of those is “our” lobster, Clementine, so-called because she is orange in color. (Orange lobsters are five times rarer than blue lobsters and only one in ten million lobsters are orange.) She is fairly active and though the hope is that she “sleeps” a bit for the winter, she doesn’t seem to. So, enter curator into room who glances over and hopes the lobster does not “run” to the side of the tank asking to be fed. Yes, she really does that – she has gotten used to people. I always hate it because I feel guilty – I do not feed her because that falls to the Natural Science Department and I do not want to hurt her or her schedule in any way. In any case, “Whew!” She actually seemed quiet at the back of the tank. Maybe she was “sleeping.” I kept moving to the next room and glanced back. Low and behold, she was at the front of the tank waving her claws! Seriously? So I kept moving on – after telling her, “I can’t feed you,” – and she went to the back of the tank again! Another, “Whew!” I decided to text Emily, our Director of Natural Science (at that time), and relay what happened. I get a text back. “You can feed her if you want.” “Really?” I texted back. “What do I give her?” So, Clementine then ran back to the front of the tank when she saw me opening the freezer and taking out the mussels and a shrimp. I got another text from Emily: “Use the forceps to hand them to her.” Well, I wasn’t about to put my hand in there! So, I get the shrimp, put it in the forceps, open the top of the tank and start to put my hand down, and INSTANTLY two HUGE lobster claws come out of the tank and grab not the shrimp but the forceps! I wish I had a picture. I was afraid she was going to take the forceps. And then, I was afraid my hand was going to be her lunch. I could not get her to release the forceps – it was a battle royale though the battle was more on her part because I was afraid I would break her claw! After some twisting of the forceps and tugging, she finally relented, took the shrimp, and began her lunch. Another, “Whew!” I was afraid I was either going to hurt her or I was going to be explaining to my three-year old what happened to Mommy’s hand at work. Veuve Clicquot with that, Clementine? Apparently, someone else knew what transpired with the lobster. As I left the building, a male mallard duck was paddling around in the rather large puddle – if you can call it that – located on the property. We have recently had a large amount of rain. He was laughing (I mean quacking) at me. In all seriousness, I have never met a lobster with so much personality. Yes, personality. Clementine may just have changed my tune on lobster rolls. JNLF

Miss Herschel

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 10, 2025
A re-blog from years past. The item you see here is a small piece of what once was. Upon her visit to Europe as a young woman’s chaperone in 1857 –1858, Maria Mitchell visited many of the major observatories of Europe and met many of the movers and shakers in the scientific, art, and literary worlds of the continent. While Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) and her brother, Sir William (1738 – 1822), were long dead, Maria was able to meet Caroline’s nephew (William’s son), Sir John Herschel (1792 – 1871). All three were astronomers, though Caroline found herself having to give credit – or have her brother accept credit – for much of her work because she was a woman. She has often been credited with the being the first woman to discover a comet. She was likely not – and the other woman who was the first lost credit through history as she had to “give” her comet discovery to her husband. See a pattern? Caroline was just one of many women in a long line of, “She couldn’t possibly do that – she is a woman!” As Maria once said, “But a woman, what more could you ask to be?” But back to this small item. It was a page from one of Caroline Herschel’s notebook’s, torn from its home by John Herschel to serve a s a memento for Maria of her visit to the family’s home. Maria was a bit shocked but . . . she took it! Over the years, the paper tore and ripped and just crumbled away until Maria finally decided that to save it, she needed to past it into one of her own journals. And thus, we have what we have. I assume Caroline’s notations refer to her brother William – “Wol” and Woll.” It could be an “I” but it really looks like an “O.” She is considered the world’s first professional woman astronomer – she would be compensated for her work after some time – and she warrants a greater look at – too much for a blog. So I encourage you to go take a look at her. Maria would want you to! JNLF

From The Rear

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 3, 2025
I am not so sure our founders would love that title but the image is of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO) “from the rear.” I love this image as it is really the only one we have – unless you count the one that is taken from farther away and from further into the backyard of the Mitchell House. That one allows you to see the natural slope of the Mitchell House back lawn which would be altered when they added the Curator’s Cottage. Both of the images were taken before the Curator’s Cottage was added at the back of the Mitchell House in the early 1930s – and this one you see here was taken before 1922 when they added the Astronomical Study onto the MMO. It also shows the original dome – which was copper – before it was replaced in 1951 – which is the current dome. The copper did not hold up to our climate here – salt spray, damp, fog. But the new one, shipped over from England, has held up well. The current dome was donated by Margaret Underwood Davis (MMA board president at the time), in memory of her son, Cushing Davis who was an amateur astronomer. Margaret Davis served as president from 1930-1946 and again from 1949-1953. The image tells you some other things too. For instance, the grape arbor behind the Mitchell House is supposed to be Peleg Mitchell’s (Maria’s uncle) grape vine – I have blogged about it several times before – and you can see it in this image. You can also see how the Milk Room connects to the 1850s kitchen. The 1850s kitchen was added by Peleg Mitchell Jr and it’s the first little wart you see with the white pipe attached. The next wart is the Milk Room – also added by Peleg – it’s the one with the shutters on the window. Both still exist it’s just the Curator’s Cottage was attached in the 1930s. You will see another chimney too. It appears alongside the white pipe. That is likely the original chimney to what is now the Astronomer’s Cottage at the MMA. We acquired the Cottage in the 1920s but I believe all of the additions, and the removal of the chimney, were done before we were given it.  Fun! JNLF
Show More