Nantucket Star Count

Logan Gomes • April 11, 2022

Nantucket, MA – Nantucket Lights and the Maria Mitchell Association invite Nantucket residents to take part in Nantucket Star Count: April 22-30.


Star-filled skies have historically been one of the most magical things about Nantucket. Nothing beats looking upwards to see velvety blackness, with twinkling constellations as far as the eye can see. But artificial light at night is increasing each year, adversely affecting our ability to enjoy truly dark skies as well our circadian rhythms, ability to sleep, and general quality of life. There is also growing evidence that light pollution has a serious detrimental effect on wildlife, including plants, insects, and even marine life. Satellite data indicates that light pollution has increased at a rate of 2.4% a year since 2012 on Nantucket but it might be even worse than that because satellite sensors are blind to the blue light emissions emitted by many LEDs.


To get a better understanding of how and where light pollution is affecting our dark skies, Nantucket Lights, a citizen advocacy group dedicated to combating light pollution on the island, and the Maria Mitchell Association are calling upon Nantucket residents to become “citizen scientists” and report their night sky observations on at least one night between April 22 and April 30. Those are the dates of 2022 International Dark Sky Week, an initiative of the International Dark-Sky Association to raise awareness about the importance of preserving dark skies around the world.


You won’t need a telescope to participate in “Nantucket Star Count” – just your eyes, a smartphone or tablet, and a willingness to help. Basically, you’ll be asked to compare what you see with your naked eye in or near the constellation “Leo the Lion” with what you see on star “magnitude charts” and report your observations via a web app.


If enough people participate, the data collected will show where our skies are the darkest as well as where the most light-polluted areas are. For comparison purposes, Nantucket Lights and Maria Mitchell plan to repeat this in July or August to assess how much the summer crowd contributes to light pollution.

Step-by-step instructions are available on the Nantucket Lights website and on Friday April 22 and Saturday April 23, if the weather cooperates, the Maria Mitchell Association will kick-off the week with Open Nights at Loines Observatory (59 Milk Street Extension) to provide in-person guidance. From 8:30pm to 10:00pm, astronomers will be on hand to explain the steps involved and answer any questions so that participants can span out and report observations from all over the island during the rest of the week. It can take around 10 minutes for the human eye to adjust to night time darkness, so participants are advised to dress warmly. Registration is not required. 

 

The founder of Nantucket Lights, Gail Walker, urges everyone to participate. “We need people all over the island to do this to have a good set of data. It would be wonderful to see families with children doing this together. By counting stars and mapping our dark skies together, we can fight back against light pollution and preserve our night sky.”

 

Joanna Roche, Executive Director of the Maria Mitchell Association, added, “We are excited to participate alongside Nantucket Lights and to engage the community in this effort.”

For Immediate Release

April 11, 2022

Contact: Logan Gomes, Director of Advancement

lgomes@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 24, 2025
Nov. 15, 1876. Congress. The Woman’s congress met in Philadelphia. The papers were numerous and excellent. Mrs. Howe’s on paternity the most successful. Grace Anne Lewis, ABB [Antoinette Brown Blackwell], Mrs. Diaz [Abby Morton Diaz], Mrs. Perus and others had very good papers. The newspaper treated us very well. The institutions opened their doors to us, the centennials gave us a reception. But – we didn’t have a good time! 1 st . The Hall was a very bad one to speak in, almost no one could be heard. 2 nd . The Women’s committee of Philadelphia led by Mrs. Bartol, attempted to control us . . . Several women protested via passed note to Maria Mitchell that they did not want to discuss suffrage for women at the Congress. Really? Why were they even there then? Apparently, they were afraid (I can see that). Ultimately, papers were presented and discussed concerning women’s suffrage. They even had people oppose the nomination of Julia Ward Howe as President. A small group of women offered up other nominations with one finally saying that the new president needed to be from the west, implying there was too much northeast representation on the board. Maria was not pleased in the least. Ultimately, Julia Ward Howe became President. JNLF

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
Show More