A High-Altitude Spring Blast

With the last blast of winter behind us (we hope), Rowan University is throwing a blast of its own to welcome spring.

The department of physics and astronomy at Rowan will host its annual spring equinox program at 1 pm on March 20 with a screening of BLAST!, a documentary about University of Pennsylvania professor and experimental cosmologist Dr. Mark Devlin. The film follows Devlin and his team of scientists as they launch a new telescope under a NASA high-altitude balloon in an attempt to figure out how the galaxies formed.

It’s not as simple as letting go of a balloon string. The team traveled from frozen Sweden to Inuit polar bear country in Canada, hitting major snags along the way. It wasn’t great for their project, but it makes for a more interesting documentary. Another layer: the movie was directed and produced by Paul Devlin, Mark’s brother and a five-time Emmy- award winner. It’s a lot of adventure for only $3 (and, yes, it’s open to the public).

Then on March 25, Mark Devlin will come to Rowan to talk about the movie and the BLAST program. He’ll speak at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Rowan Hall in the College of Engineering Building.

For more information about the Rowan event, check out the Edelman Planetarium page. You can also see a trailer for BLAST! on YouTube.

Tags: Rowan University