MOAS Blog

People have always been fascinated by pirates, but what most people think they know comes from movies, television shows, plays, and novels. Pirate lore is a very fragmented history and one that is overrun with ridiculous myths. Things like peg legs, talking birds, and eye patches were created by Hollywood’s myth-making machine. Movies are a bad place to get your history from! It is a monumental task to break the general public hold on pirate myths as they get passed down by various entertainment sources, generation after generation. The truth is that pirates were historical figures who became mythologized. What we know about them comes mostly from court documents, especially testimony by their victims as well as some pirates who threw themselves on the mercy of the courts in an attempt to save their own lives.

Monday, November 11, 2019 From 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., MOAS will be celebrating the transit of Mercury. Weather permitting, a special solar telescope will be in the MOAS courtyard for safe viewing throughout the event. In the Planetarium, a live stream will accompany the entire transit period, as well as a special live show at 11:00 a.m. Outdoor and Planetarium portions of this event are free to the public. (To enjoy the rest of MOAS after the show, regular museum admission must then be purchased).

Did you know that spiders are not actually considered insects? Or, that they are often predatory, and even cannibalistic? Learn more about these creepy crawlers and the webs they weave in our list of Florida Spider fun facts!