Et Cetera
1. A number of unspecified additional things; 2. pl. additional items, odds and ends

BEE RESCHEDULED The Friends of Nantucket Public Schools' Spelling Bee has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 17, at 6 p.m. at the Nantucket High School auditorium.

Because Nantucket High School Culinary students were still able to conduct their dinner last Saturday evening, the rescheduled spelling bee will not include a dinner beforehand.

Nantucket High School Culinary arts teacher Bob Buccino said the students were able to feed about 100 people who stayed for the dinner, of the 200 people for whom they had prepared originally. It took the students about a week and a half to make the dinner from scratch. The menu included roast pork and turkey and several fresh vegetable sides, including mashed potatoes and squash. Diners had three dessert options: chocolate torte, pumpkin pipe and bread pudding. The prevailing opinion amongst diners was that it was a filling, delicious and well-prepared meal.

"We kind of struggled through the night, to be honest. When the students found out the sad news (the death of classmate Vaughn Peterson), there were some that left," said Buccino, who said that the news reached the students just as they finished preparing the meal. Buccino added that leftovers from the dinner - enough to feed approximately 125 people - were donated to the school's cafeteria to feed students this week.

The Friends of Nantucket Public Schools made a little over $1,500 on the dinner, before expenses. The culinary students host several other fundraisers throughout the year, including one to raise money for students traveling to Guatemala.

Though the rescheduled spelling bee will not include a dinner, it will offer refreshments. If you haven't already registered for the Spelling Bee and are interested in participating, you still have time to enter a team. Call 228-7285 to register or for more information.

- MG

MMAOVERHAULS TELESCOPE AND BUYS LARGER ONE Maria Mitchell is suspending its open telescope nights at the Loines Observatory while it repairs its existing telescope and makes room for a new, more powerful one.

For the next two months, the constellations and distant planets brought closer to us by the miracle of optical magnification and the expert astronomical knowledge of Vladimir Strelnitski, the Maria Mitchell Association's Director of Astronomy, will remain visible only to the naked eye.

The Maria Mitchell Association is restoring its eight-inch Clark telescope and preparing its larger dome up on Milk Street Extension for a brand new

Ritchey-Chretien 24-inch telescope with a modern control system and CCD camera that it purchased with a grant from the National Science Foundation.

"We had to get the dome ready to receive, so we're working on the large dome so we can outfit it for the large telescope," said Maria Mitchell Association Executive Director Janet Schulte. "We had to take the eight-inch Clark out and while we had it disassembled, we decided that it was the perfect time to get it refurbished. It has the original paint on it and it's been sitting in that dome for at least 40 years."

The Clark telescope, which the Maria Mitchell Association installed 50 years ago, was made in 1908, said Strelnitski.

The new research-grade telescope, he added, is going to be nine times more powerful than the Clark because of the diameter of its lens.

"The amount of light gathered by a telescope is proportional to the second power of the diameter of its eye and thus, the new telescope will gather nine times more light than any of our telescopes," said Strelnitski. "On the average, we will be able to see three times farther into space."

In addition to running the free Friday night open telescope sessions at the Loines Observatory, Strelnitski conducts astronomical research at the Maria Mitchell Association along with visiting astronomers and six student research assistants each summer chosen by the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, funded by the National Science Foundation.

According to Maria Mitchell's Web site, www.mma.org, Dr. Nikolai Samus of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of the Moscow State University, Dr. Geoffrey Clayton of the Louisiana State University and Dr. Robert E. Wilson of the University of Florida were a few of the visiting senior astronomers.

Strelnitski and his rotating staff are currently researching forming stars and planetary systems, peculiar variable stars, astrophysical masers and lasers and comets. You, the amateur stargazer can get back in the game in early May.

"We plan to have it [the Clark] back from the refurbishing at the end of April and resume open telescope nights on the fourth of May," said Strelnitski.

Until then, Schulte said there is just one opportunity at Maria Mitchell to get closer to the heavens. On March 3, using portable telescopes at the Loines Observatory, Strelnitski will help people view and understand that night's lunar eclipse from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. And at 12 Noon that day Alfred Crosby is giving a talk on hitchhiking microbes in space at Maria Mitchell's Hinchman House at 7 Milk St.

- PB