The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Announces International Dark Sky Week April 2 - 8

March 13, 2024

NANTUCKET, MA—The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces it will celebrate DarkSky International’s International Dark Sky week, slated for April 2-8, 2024. In honor of this event, the MMA will host a free public Stargazing Open Night at Loines Observatory, 59 Milk Street Extension, on Thursday, April 4, from 8-9pm. This stargazing program is designed to be engaging and interactive for all ages but with a focus on young adults and students of K-12 grades. Registration is required and can be found at: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Look-Up-at-Loines-04Apr2024


Keep your eyes peeled for other Dark Sky week activities happening with the MMA on our calendar: https://www.mariamitchell.org/calendar.


International Dark Sky Week was founded in 2003 by then-high school student, Jennifer Barlow, with the goals of reducing light pollution and raising awareness about its effects on the night sky, encouraging the usage of better and safer nighttime lighting systems, and promoting the study of astronomy. The mission of DarkSky International is to promote, “Win-win solutions that allow people to appreciate dark, star-filled skies while enjoying the benefits of responsible outdoor lighting.”


“This year, International Dark Sky week overlaps with the celestial event of the year – the Great North American solar eclipse happening on April 8. We encourage everyone to safely enjoy the partial solar eclipse from here on Nantucket during the daytime, and then to check out Nantucket’s fantastically dark skies at night!” states Dr. Regina Jorgenson, the MMA’s Director of Astronomy.



You can find more information about DarkSky International on their website: https://darksky.org/, about International Dark Sky Week: https://idsw.darksky.org/,

and about Nantucket Lights at their website: https://nantucketlights.org/.

For more information regarding the MMA’s activities around the Great North American Eclipse on April 8, please visit our calendar at https://www.mariamitchell.org/calendar.


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

March 22, 2024

Contact: Molly Mosscrop

mmosscrop@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

The Work Begins

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 14, 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 remarkable 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. In 1906, the MMA was given Maria Mitchell’s five-inch Alvan Clark telescope which Mitchell purchased with money raised by the Women of America in 1859. With the telescope, a fireproof observatory was needed to house it and the activities surrounding its use. A campaign was developed to raise the funds for an observatory and in approximately four months, a small observatory was built at a cost of $4,800.00. Completed in 1908, the Maria Mitchell Observatory now was in need of a permanent astronomer. An Observatory Committee was developed and chaired by Annie Jump Cannon. From 1909 through 1911, the MMA was able to employ an astronomer to teach classes, observe, provide lectures, and open the observatory for public observing for approximately a month each summer. As the demand grew, the MMA realized that a more extensive program was needed and the Astronomical Fellowship Committee began to raise funds for an Astronomical Fellowship Fund. With the support of many generous donors and a matching gift from Andrew Carnegie, by 1911 the MMA had the funds it needed to support the fellowship and began its search for an astronomer who would conduct research, provide lectures and classes, and conduct open nights for the public from mid-June through mid-December. The fellow would spend the remainder four months in research and study – every fourth year a full year of study would be spent in an American or European observatory. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 7, 2025
July 31, 1883. I had two or three rich days! On Friday last I went to Holderness, N.H.. to the Asquam House; I had been asked by Mrs. T to join her party. There was at this house Mr. Whittier, Mr., and Mrs. Cartland, Professor and Mrs. Johnson, of Yale . . . The house seemed full of fine, cultivate people. We stayed two days and a half. And first of the scenery. The road up to the house is a steep hill, and at the foot of the hill it winds and turns around two lakes. The panorama is complete one hundred and eighty degrees. Beyond the lakes lie the mountains.  The Asquam House sat atop Shepard Hill and was built in 1881. A hotel, it has space for fifty guests, it was located near Squam Lake and became part of a summer enclave that developed there in the later part of the nineteenth century. Today, the area is a National Historic Landmark, but sadly, the hotel was demolished in 1948. Maria would have been familiar with these people seen here – and others I did not include – but particularly John Greenleaf Whittier who was something of a family friend. He was close to one of her younger brothers, William Forester. JNLF

Keep Calm and Bird On: July 2025

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