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Inside the World's Most Advanced Planetarium
notthatwillsmith writes "Earlier this month, the most technologically-advanced digital planetarium in the world opened in San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences. The new Morrison Planetarium's 75-foot screen replaces the traditional Zeiss projector with an array of 6 high-resolution DLP projectors arrayed around the edge of the theater, which are powered by three very different, but interesting computing clusters. The three clusters allow for projection of traditional planetarium shows, playback of ultra-high resolution movies, and display of anything from current atmospheric conditions on Earth to a (greatly accelerated) trip to the farthest reaches of the universe, all rendered in real-time on an 8800 sq. ft. dome. Maximum PC went on a behind the scenes tour with the engineers who built the systems that do everything from run the planetarium lights to the sound systems to the tech behind the screen to show you how it works and what it's like to drive, well ... the universe."
This thing sounds expensive. I wonder if this ended up costing more than the $3,000,000 that the Alder Planetarium payed for it's high-tech projection system.
When, in a recent debate, McCain was reaching for an example of ridiculous pork that he demonstrates spending that's run out of control, he mentioned this as a paradigmatic waste of money: "Three million dollars for a (heh heh) projector." See the story here.
Be glad he doesn't read Slashdot!
I can think of a couple of options for you here.
First, don't worry too much about the flat. That can be fixed in software (as is already done for key-stoning). Although if you can't code your own display software you may indeed be in trouble here.
Secondly for a bedroom at night, you won't really need that bright a bulb. And since the reason for the high cost is for the number of lumens, you might actually be able to cheaper. I know my phone on 'white' will light up bits of the room bright enough to be stars, so maybe some sort of kit starting with a neo and an appropriate lens?
The planetarium that I work at is also considering using the Uniview system. We currently use the Konica Minolta's single-projector MediaGlobe I/II system. It provides wonderful visuals and interactivity in our galaxy, but sadly, its intergalactic abilities aren't nearly up to what the Uniview can do. For those wishing to dabble a bit in the technology behind Uniview, though, check out the free Digital Universe.
I came, I saw, She conquered.
Found a video describing the planetarium tech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJewbEIzesE
I use Stellarium (stellarium.org) on Linux on a large (47") TV. It is as cool as a planetarium, with more bells and whistles than you'd need. It works fine on a 32" too.
If what Stellarium ain't enough and I need Imperial cruisers and a Death star here and there, I use Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/) with some custom add-ons. Extra benefits if you let kids design their own universes.
The third piece is cartes du ciel, but I mostly use that to plan my observations.
Like the little planetarium in my town?
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, in Mitaka, has a system called "4D2U" set up in a small building. It features dome about 20 meters wide with (if I recall correctly from my visit in the spring) 11 or 13 projectors. Most of the projectors face in one particular direction, the same direction which the seats face, so that the resolution and color balance are highest where people are looking. The team at Mitaka has written their own software to do real-time motion through space and time; it looks a lot like Celestia, and may be based in part on it.
You can see details and download code for your own use by going to
http://4d2u.nao.ac.jp/index_E.html
Michael Richmond "This is the heart that broke my finger."
mwrsps@rit.edu http://stupendous.rit.edu