Beginning June 10, scientists from five institutions gathered at Northwestern for a week-long pre-flight planning meeting of BLAST-TNG. BLAST is a 5,000 pound balloon-borne telescope bound for the stratosphere over Antarctica, to search for the origins of stars and planets. The telescope’s name stands for “Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope – The Next Generation”.
Laura Fissel, a CIERA postdoctoral alumna currently working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, gave a special seminar while she visited for the meeting, entitled “Studying Star Formation from the Stratosphere”.
The group was hosted by Professor Giles Novak and PhD student Paul Williams.
Learn more about the science of BLAST-TNG.
Read about last winter’s trip to Antarctica.
Watch Paul Williams’ Seven Minutes of Science talk: “Balloons Above Antarctica: The Coolest Place to Put a Telescope”
Image (left to right):
Erin Cox (Northwestern), Adrian Sinclair (Arizona State University), Anthony Corso (U Penn), Javier Romualdez (Princeton), Laura Fissel (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), Ian Lowe (U Penn), Giles Novak (Northwestern), Paul Williams (Northwestern), Gabriele Coppi (U Penn). Not shown: Alper Kinaci (Northwestern).