January 2011

January 7: Monthly Meeting

Maria Mitchell Observatory: A Century-Old Research Institution on Nantucket

David Sliski

Maria Mitchell, recognized as America's first woman astronomer, believed students learned best via hands-on learning. In 1865 she became the first professor at Vassar College, and in 1908 the Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO) was erected beside her Nantucket birthplace to continue astronomical research in her honor. With a 7.5-inch Cook triplet (mounted by the Clark Corporation) and a series of very dedicated directors, the observatory conducted world-class studies of variable stars. In 1957 with the support of the NSF, its second director, Dr. Dorrit Hoffleit, started an intensive program of a hands-on astronomical education for young American women. In 1977 the program first opened its doors to men. With continued support from the NSF, the MMO recruits six students every summer and schools them in experimental and theoretical astrophysics. While MMO has never had large telescopes, it has focused on interesting research projects that students can complete in eight to ten weeks. In 1997 Dr. Vladimir Strelinitski took over as Director and soon won an NSF grant to upgrade the instrumentation. The 7.5-inch Cooke/Clark telescope was replaced with a 17-inch PlaneWave reflector, and a 24-inch Ritchey-Chretien reflector was added to the facility. Equipped with modern CCD cameras, students now study active galactic nuclei, monitor exoplanet transits, and continue the legacy of former directors by studying variable stars.

David Sliski currently works as an Observational Astronomer at Maria Mitchell Observatory and is presently preparing to publish, in co-authorship with other MMO researchers and students, a new method to extract emission lines using narrow-band filters and thereby better classify certain variable stars. His past work includes data analysis of the environmental channels at the LIGO gravitational wave observatories; hardware design to “squeeze” laser light used in third-generation gravitational wave detectors; spectroscopic and photometric data acquisition of the re-entry of European Space Agency’s ATV-1; work on brown dwarf surveys using SPITZER Space Telescope data; and hardware design for the OSETI project. He is also an avid amateur astronomer and proud owner of a 1860s Reinfelder and Hertle mahogany refracting telescope. A recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts, he has also served as the Director of the UMass-Amherst Orchard Hill Observatory 2008-2010, and he is a regular attendee of the annual Stellafane Convention.

Related Links

• Maria Mitchell Observatory