The Nature of Nantucket

Listeners may know that Maria Mitchell was an advocate for bringing more imagination, beauty and poetry (also known as art) into the sciences. Her perspective is manifesting this summer as a special Oika Art exhibition that will culminate at the MMA gallery at 33 Washington Street and as outdoor installations around the island.  Over the past several weeks, we’ve been interviewing the cohort of ar...

Join Michele Woodland of the Maria Mitchell Association as she discusses Sunspots. Sunspots are areas of the surface of the Sun that appear darker than the surrounding areas. In these spots the Sun's magnetic fields are so strong that some of the heat is blocked from reaching the surface - creating a cooler looking 'spot.' In January 2023, the sunspot count was the highest recorded...

Fiona Powers Ozyurt of the Maria Mitchell Association discusses the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor. To see the constellations, head outside after dark around 7:00 pm and face southeast. You’ll notice Canis Major’s bright star Sirius located below the Orion constellation and another bright star Procyon in Canis Minor.

Listeners may know that Maria Mitchell was an advocate for bringing more imagination, beauty and poetry (also known as art) into the sciences. Her perspective is manifesting this summer as a special Oika Art exhibition that will culminate at the MMA gallery at 33 Washington Street and as outdoor installations around the island.  Over the past several weeks, we’ve been interviewing the cohort of ar...

Joanna Roche , Samantha Denette and Emily Molden chat about their roll's here on the island and the projects they are currently focused on. Samantha is with the Nantucket Shell Fish Association and Emily is with the Nantucket Land Council . They spend their time on the show discussing issues with the water on Nantucket and how the Clean Water Coalition is trying to find solutions. 

Michele Woodland of the Maria Mitchell Association discusses A new study, released just last week, has shown that over the past decade, the brightness of the night sky has been increasing by approximately 10% each year. Nantucket Lights, a citizen advocacy group based here in Nantucket, seeks to preserve the island's beautiful dark skies. 

Julia Blyth , Maria Mitchell Associations Biological Collection Manager, sits down with host Joanna Roche to talk about the MMA collections and why it serves as crucial part in Nantucket's biological history.

Fiona Powers Ozyurt of the Maria Mitchell Association discusses a rare green comet named “Comet 2022 E3 ZTF.” To see the comet, grab some binoculars or a small telescope if you have one and head outside after dark around 6:00 pm and face the Northern sky. You’ll notice the bright and greenish smudged object, located just North of the Little Dipper.

In Seattle, Washington the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society is being held. The Maria Mitchell Association sent its six summer astronomy interns, as well as the current two post-baccalaureate research fellows, to the meeting. 

This week we speak with our favorite birder and Nantucket Native Ginger Andrews about the Annual Christmas Bird Count and her philosophies on science, art and the nature of Nantucket.  We also want to give a quick shout out to some of the people that made the CBC possible this year, including Yvonne Vaillancourt of the Umass Field Station, Edie Ray, Ken Blackshaw and Libby Buck from the Linda Lori...

The Maria Mitchell Association is committed not only to good science, but also, in the words of Maria Mitchell herself, to infuse science with a bit more imagination, beauty and poetry. One way we do this is to highlight the work of artists who work with nature to inspire greater appreciation of our local land, sea and sky.  This week we continue our conversation with the visual artist Dena Haden...

The Maria Mitchell Association is committed not only to good science, but also, in the words of Maria Mitchell herself, to infuse science with a bit more imagination, beauty and poetry. One way we do this is to highlight the work of artists who work with nature to inspire greater appreciation of our local land, sea and sky.  This week we begin a conversation with the visual artist Dena Haden who i...

This is the third and final part of our conversation with the molecular biologist, Dr. Ursula Goodenough, where we explore the human dimensions of the story of Nature.  The long-awaited second edition of Ursula’s beloved book, The Sacred Depths of Nature is being released by the University of Oxford Press in early 2023. You can learn more at: sacreddepthsofnature.com  

To see the Orion constellation, head outside around 9:00pm and look to the eastern sky. You’ll notice the bright and reddish colored planet Mars located just above Orion.

In this part-two of three we continue our conversation with Dr. Ursula Goodenough. Dr. Goodenough is a molecular biologist whose many distinctions include being an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.   The long-awaited second edition of her beloved book, The Sacred Depths of Nature is being released by the University of Oxford Press in early 2023. You can learn more at sac...

Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, can currently be seen looking southwest after sunset. The planet can be seen with the naked eye, but with a small telescope you can make out its magnificent rings, which are made up of billions of pieces of ice and rock. 

In this and the next two episodes of the Nature of Nantucket Podcast we’ll meet an extraordinary scientist. Dr. Ursula Goodenough is a biologist whose many distinctions include being an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.   The long-awaited second edition of her beloved book, The Sacred Depths of Nature is being released by the University of Oxford Press in early 2023. You...

In this week’s star report, Fiona Powers Ozyurt discusses The Geminid meteor shower and how it will be visible December 13-14. To catch a glimpse of some meteors, head outside around midnight, face due east and look for the constellation Gemini which is to the  left of the well-known Orion constellation. 

This week we are speaking with one of Nantucket’s premier photographers, Bill Hoenk. You can see Bill’s fantastic images at https://www.instagram.com/photohoenk/ and also purchase prints through his website at https://www.billhoenkphotography.com . To get started, I asked Bill to talk about how he washed ashore and about the path of his career as a photographer.

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is currently visible low in the Eastern sky after sunset. Mars appears red even to the naked eye due to the large amounts of iron in its rocks and dust. Mars is popular because of discoveries of evidence of past liquid water on the planet, and new evidence suggests there might even currently be liquid water deep under Mars' surface.

Join Joanna Roche and Dan Drake , former MMA Board President and current president of The Linda Loring Foundation as they talk about Dan’s relationship to Maria Mitchell and his thoughts about Nantucket.  

This week Dr. Blundell continues his conversation with the Visual Artist, Rita Leduc .  In part one we explored the under-acknowledged artistic and imaginative facets of Maria Mitchell. We also set the stage for how our collaborative work in the mountains of New Hampshire is transportable to Nantucket. You can learn more and see examples of her nature-inspired art here: https://www.ritaleduc.com/s...

Fiona Powers Ozyurt from the Maria Mitchell Association tells us all about the Pleiades star cluter located in the constellation Taurus the bull. The Pleiades star cluster is about 440 light years away, and contains over a thousand stars, seven of which are visible to the naked eye. To find the Pleiades, head outside around 8:00 pm and face due east. You’ll see the star cluster, made of 6 bright s...

In part one of this two-part episode, Dr. Rich Blundell speaks with the visual artist Rita Leduc . Rita and Dr. Blundell have been collaborating on a series of projects that explore the boundaries of art, science, nature and culture. Many of these are grounded in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. You can check out these projects through this link: https...

Michele Woodland of Maria Mitchell Association talks about Jupiter, the 5th planet from our Sun, and how it can be seen shining brightly in the Southern sky around sunset. Jupiter can be viewed with the naked eye, but binoculars or the MMA's historic Clark telescope at Loines Observatory allow you to see Jupiter's four largest moons.