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New film about life in space to premiere at Planetarium

April 28, 2022

MSU Food processing labAre we alone?

A new film, “The Search for Life in Space,” showing at the Delta College Planetarium this summer seeks to answer that question. It will premiere May 7 on International Astronomy Day.

The documentary offers new insight into possible life-sustaining worlds, from Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn to planets beyond the Solar System. The film features giant-screen images taken from the world’s most advanced telescopes, as well as footage of Hawaii’s lava fields and thermal vents beneath the Pacific Ocean to discover what life on Earth reveals about life in space.

The 32-minute, family-friendly film will play on Saturdays at 3:30pm through August 20.

“The footage and 3D science animations are truly engaging, and actor Malcom McDowell delivers a superb narration,” said Mike Murray, Planetarium manager. “It’s the best assessment to date of where we are in the search for life beyond Earth.”

The film features the work of astronomer and astrobiologist Lisa Kaltenegger, founder and director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University. She found a way to rank the potential of life on other planets and moons, and created an Alien ID Chart for Life, a catalog of the various spectral signatures, so that scientists can spend time evaluating worlds that look the most like Earth.

“More than twenty years ago, we didn’t even have the technology to find out if there were planets orbiting other stars like our own, the Sun, in the galaxy,” Kaltenegger said. “But now we do. Locating the ones that can support life puts us one step closer to exploring the fascinating diversity of potential life out there.”

General admission tickets to “The Search for Life in Space” are $7 for adults, $5 for children ages 3-18, seniors, students and military. The Delta College Planetarium is located at 100 Center Avenue in downtown Bay City.

For more information, go to delta.edu/planetarium or call 989-667-2260. 

About the film

The Search for Life in Space is a December Media film produced in association with Film Victoria Australia and Swinburne University of Technology.  It is executive produced by Emmy®-award-winning producer Tony Wright and Stuart Menzies, produced and directed by Stephen Amezdroz, with a musical score by Dale Cornelius. The film is distributed by MacGillivray Freeman Films.