BLAKE PATENAUDE
presenter
blake@bcplanetarium.com
Blake Patenaude graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 2014 and flew directly to the Alberta Rocky Mountains. He spent the next three years living in one of the most beautiful Dark Sky Preserves in the world, where he spent many nights stargazing and pursuing his interest in our universe, and expanding his knowledge from the Astronomy courses he took in University through direct observation of the night sky.
For two years, Blake also served as a presenter at The Ontario Planetarium.
Blake is well travelled and has had the opportunity to stargaze atop volcanoes and on rural beaches in Indonesia, and spent a week trekking in Patagonia where he witnessed the incredibly bright stars of an area with zero light pollution.
Blake is an engaging and entertaining presenter who is certain to edu-tain all visitors to the BC Planetarium!
OLIVIA LONGO
presenter
olivia@bcplanetarium.com
Olivia is an accomplished outdoor stargazing and planetarium presenter with a universe of experience hosting thousands of people under the stars.
Before working for The BC Planetarium, Olivia delivered thousands of experiences at The Ontario Planetarium AND has worked at our flagship facility, The Jasper Planetarium in the Alberta Rockies, presenting popular astronomy content to visitors to Jasper Dark Sky preserve in a variety of locales (mountain tops, canyons, etc…)
An accomplished world traveller, Olivia has trekked to numerous iconic stargazing destinations, including the wilderness of Chile and Patagonia (in Argentina.)
Olivia holds an honours degree in Cognitive Science from Carleton University (which she sometimes puts to use when asked questions about our perception of the night sky and the universe around us.)
PETER MCMAHON
manager
peter@bcplanetarium.com
Peter is an award-winning science journalist who has worked for CTV News (where he currently serves as a TV science commentator), Discovery Channel, and written for MSN.ca, The Toronto Star, CAA online, and Frommer’s Travel.
He’s also written print science features for such magazines as Canadian Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Today’s Parent, Air Canada’s in-flight magazine enRoute, OWL Magazine, the U.S. magazine Sky & Telescope, and Sky News: The Canadian Magazine of Astronomy and Stargazing where he writes the “Wilderness Astronomer” column in each issue and serves as a contributing editor.
An avid “wilderness astronomer” , Peter was the first to propose that Jasper National Park become a dark sky preserve, and worked with Parks Canada to have it designated the world’s largest astronomy park, as of March 2011. He currently serves as general manager and co-owner of The Jasper Planetarium.
In February of 2010, he covered health science stories at the Vancouver Winter Games for CTVolympics.ca
Peter has spoken on science communication and astronomy at countless universities, science centres, conferences, and national parks, as well as delivering science communication workshops at Science North/Laurentian University’s Science Communication program and The Banff Centre.
Peter’s second installment in the Machines of the Future science experiment book series – Space Tourism (Kids Can Press, 2011) was an Official Selection for the prestigious U.S. Junior Library Guild. His current book, the critically-acclaimed best-selling Space Adventurer’s Guide (Kids Can Press, 2018) won the 2019 Lane Anderson prize for science writing and was nominated for an Ontario Library Association Red Maple Award (part of the Forest of Reading program.)
Educators, groups, institutions and individuals interested in booking this portable facility can call or email:
bookings@bcplanetarium.com / 905.885.9471