The sun moves at an unnatural speed across the daytime sky, sinking into a curved horizon and giving way to a night so clear and vivid that everyone around, yourself included, oohs and aahs. Moments later you are soaring in deep space, speeding past planets, careening towards nebulas, and a black hole comes into view. You can’t help feeling infinitesimal and helpless floating through the cosmos. Then, dim lights come on. You sit upright from leaning back in your chair and adjust to the reality that you have not just returned to earth from an exciting mission in space. You are at the Blake Planetarium in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
“We want you to have a butterflies-in-your-belly, sensory-immersive experience here,” says Alison Riordan, Administrator Program Coordinator for the Plymouth Public School District and Director of OpenSciEd Massachusetts. Providing the community with unforgettable learning experiences has been part of the legacy of the Blake Planetarium for over fifty years. Original to the 1973 building now housing Plymouth Community Intermediate School (PCIS) the Blake Planetarium has been a hub of cosmic and science learning even when the equipment was much simpler. PCIS was built amidst the years of the cultural phenomenon known as the Space Race and its unique construction includes “branches” that connect to a central point. The branches are named after the space programs Mercury, Gemini, Ranger, and Apollo. The cafeteria, library, and planetarium are located in the central meeting point of these branches.
The “star” of the planetarium in those days was the Spitz projector -a disco ball shaped orb with lenses and mirrors that had to be hand screwed and placed to project the stars onto the domed ceiling. “It would have lasted 700 years,” jokes Riordan, “But the problem was that you could only present things from one point of view -from earth looking up into space. You couldn’t go ‘up into’ space and it limited what we could explore in terms of learning experiences. It limited perspective. Still, we were lucky to have the old Spitz for as long as we did.”
Former Planetarium Director, Russell Blake, started the planetarium program in 1973. Back then PCIS was called Plymouth Carver Intermediate School. Blake taught astronomy and science supporting grades K-12 within the Plymouth School District and surrounding towns. Blake also taught Celestial Navigation, helped run astronomy clubs, and assisted numerous students in organizing field trips and astronomy outreach programs. Blake used the planetarium to give audiences “space rides” in which the participants reclined in their seats while he projected the ‘stars’ on the domed ceiling by spinning the Spitz projector in all directions to give the feeling of flying through space. When Blake retired in 2008 Plymouth Public School District honored him by naming the planetarium after him.
Following Blake’s retirement, talk of grants began with a hope to upgrade the Spitz projector to a fully digital projector. The proposal was made and at a town meeting in 2016 the project was approved by way of the capital improvement budget. In order to make the projected images on the new digital system properly fit the unique shape and curve of the Blake Planetariums ceiling, however, two computers run dual images while a third one corrects the overlapping images to synchronize them and create a seamless finish to the viewer. The planetarium also had to remove the old Spitz projector from its place in the center of the room. “A large space in the center of the planetarium was left once the Spitz was removed so seats were added to take the seating from 60 seats to 72,” Riordan explains, “Now we have the only 4K full-dome planetarium south of Boston and we use the same system as the Science Museum in Boston.”
Having a state-of-the-art planetarium in Plymouth does not go unnoticed by the community. With a range of programs, from workshops teaching how to navigate the local night sky to being a destination for school field trips, the Blake Planetarium has become the learning resource it was intended to be. The planetarium is now run by a team of experts including Steven Davies, Karen Merrill, Paul Bonfilio, and Riordan. With a background in biology, neuroscience, astronomy, and teaching middle and high school, Riordan’s inclusion in the planetarium was unintentional though natural. “I went to Boston to do research on how to improve the Blake and was blown away by how they use the planetarium there. It was so much more than space.” Riordan goes on to explain that with the digital projector they can use it for multiple points of view of space exploration but also for things like programs about weather, earth sciences, and even mediation. Together the Blake Planetarium team offers the public an array of programs such as First Friday’s at Blake -their most popular public program that sells out nearly every time. First Friday’s was created by Davies -a former science teacher in Carver who has substantial knowledge of and a deep passion for astronomy. Davies wanted to make a program from the point of view of looking up from earth at the stars. This perspective is easier for children to navigate and understand in terms of their current location.
In addition to First Friday’s at Blake, the planetarium hosts 30 other programs including school field trips, private rentals, monthly programs, and summer programs. Groups like the Scouts and other community organizations can contact Riordan about scheduling a program. At the heart of the community outreach, Riordan says the Blake Planetarium’s goal remains the same: To give every student in the Plymouth Public School District a chance to experience the planetarium at least once. Students who attend the Blake can obviously enjoy programs about space but also things like Earth Science, dinosaurs, life and physical sciences -even programs featuring beloved childhood characters such as Big Bird and The Magic Treehouses’ Jack and Annie.
In order to acquire this incredible array of resources for the community, a great deal of behind-the-scenes work goes into securing licensing for said programs. Riordan says a large portion of the time and budget allocated for the planetarium goes toward purchasing and renting planetarium programming. Another part of the budget for the Blake Planetarium is used to provide bus transportation for all field trip attendees to and from the venue. “What we do is astounding for kids. We want them to get here, to experience learning like this,” Riordan says, “Our biggest customers, however, are the preschoolers!” Riordan points out that the planetarium offers a truly unique experience for the senses. “It takes what kids often have in their hands (phones) and makes it immersive. It’s an IMAX experience -a sensory directional presentation that entirely immerses the viewer. Knowledge presented like that is something you take home with you and remember.” Riordan also brings up another advantage of studying the night sky in a planetarium: “No light pollution,” she says, “Plymouth is drowning in it and it dulls the visibility of the stars substantially. At the Blake we can omit all of that in addition to giving you a lesson on what you are looking at.”
The fact that the Blake Planetarium is only a quick commute away from many in the area is a privilege not to be overlooked. Many have come to experience the magic of learning about the cosmos and our world under its domed ceiling. “We have approximately 8,000 people a year come to the planetarium,” Riordan states, “We can always welcome more.” Davies goals for every person who comes to the Blake align with Riordan’s. “I want to give them a feel for where they are in the universe. We are star stuff -to quote Carl Sagan. We are the universe experiencing the universe. It is lifelong learning that happens here.”
So the next time you are looking for a meaningful experience that can take you and your family and friends to the Andromeda Galaxy, or to a volcanoes edge just before it erupts, or down to a molecular level inside the human body, or just to learn how to find the Libra Constellation without any light pollution or lengthy travel involved and at a low cost, pay a visit to the Blake Planetarium. There, universes big and small can be explored and you just might find yourself renewed with wonder. Perhaps some younger patrons who visit the Blake will one day nurture what they first felt at the planetarium and take it with them on a real journey into space, but for now it can all be found down the road at a local school in Plymouth, Massachusetts with a touch of the cosmos at its center.