HomeStar - 21st Century Home Planetarium Review

Jeff writes "Direct from Japan, the SegaToys HomeStar is a unique home projector that turns any room into a planetarium, giving a clear view of the night sky. Using interchangeable plates, it's capable of displaying up to 10,000 stars of either northern or southern hemisphere, as well as their constellations. The starfield can move on a timer to simulate the earth's rotation. Also comes with a meteor generating function and sleep timer. Makes a great gift for the dad who has everything, or people who live in light-polluted areas." Check out Jeff's review of the unit.

Comments

Re:Now we know

[EvilSS]

I'm in the same boat. I live in a 'burb of a big city and the light pollution from the city (~ 20 miles away) is so bad that that I usually don't even need the lights on outside at night to see in my yard: the yellow-orange haze from the city is more that sufficient illumination. It's like a perpetual sunset. I would have to drive for hours to get far enough away from the city and surrounding suburbs to find a "dark" area to stargaze.

Re:Now we know

[PFI_Optix]

I live in a town of just 7,000 people, and the light pollution is so bad that the majority of stars aren't visible (yes I know the vast majority of stars in the universe are never visible, but you all know what I mean). For about fifty miles in any given direction of most major metro areas, only a few stars can be seen. I've only seen the night sky as it used to look a handful of times. It's interesting now to watch people who have never seen in person just how many stars should be visible.

Re:Now we know

[Xzzy]

I'm 40 miles out from downtown Chicago, and about all I can spot anymore is Orion's belt. Some of the planets break through the city glow, too. That's pretty much it.

I grew up in a much more rural region, and only after "citifying" myself did I realize how bad light pollution has become. Would be nice if it was feasible to do something about it.

Re:Now we know

[Jugalator]

I agree. I believe many living in urbanized areas (and then such cities would be 5,000+ or close to such towns) would be quite shocked to see the night sky as it looks like with no special light pollution influences. I've seen it just a few times the past decade or so, and it's a fascinating sight, making you truly *see* how you're on a sphere floating around in space. :-) You know you're in such a place when you can spot our neighboring Andromeda galaxy as a fuzzy spot with the naked eye!

I looked a bit on the web for pictures illustrating how it *can* look for those who haven't seen it, or seen it recently, but didn't find any good ones (not talking simulations here) and was reminded how cameras may not pick up star shine well due to optics and sensitivity? Hmm, not sure though, and I'm no photographer.