Planetarium Star Projectors

[TechJunkie]

Very interesting discussion. The comradery, and dedication is inspirational. Since my first experience at a Pink Floyd laser show in the planetarium at the Boston Museum of Science I have been on the path of reproducing such effects in my home. Its wonderful seeing people with the same aspirations realize their dreams and sharing them with others.

Unless I hit the lottery this will never happen for me, but its nice to read that others are living the dream.

[SpitzSTP]

This Spitz 512 just arrived from Evansville, Indiana where it served the Koch Planetarium for over 30 years. The truck was unloaded in 102 degree heat concluding an epic journey to rescue this classic projector. I removed it in May and placed it in climate-controlled storage pending final transport to Phoenix. It is mechanically sound. Rather than restore the console, I'll just leave the way it is with the paint worn off as it gives witness to its many years of service to the community. I saw this projector operate before the power was cut off for the last time. They had it under the old dome upstairs in the museum and it was loaded out via freight elevator which was situated conveniently nearby. Cables were pulled from the conduit so nothing was cut, which is very fortunate. My sincere gratitude to Planetarium Director Mitch Luman of Koch Immersive Theater in Evansville, IN who was instrumental in helping to preserve this historic Spitz projector. If you are ever in Evansville, IN please stop in to see their new digital theater, it is absolutely world class and awesome in every way. While travelling west on I-40 on the way home I stopped at Clines Corners, New Mexico and scored this Roswell themed coffee cup as a momento of my journey. I am lucky to get the manual complete with schematics.

[swamidog]

i totally have this vibe that you go out in the desert and pick up pieces of crashed flying saucers.

also, if i had that control console in my house, i would rig it so it make the old star trek transporter noise.

This Spitz 512 just arrived from Evansville, Indiana where it served the Koch Planetarium for over 30 years. The truck was unloaded in 102 degree heat concluding an epic journey to rescue this classic projector. It is mechanically sound. Rather than restore the console, I'll just leave the way it is with the paint worn off as it gives witness to its many years of service to the community. I saw this projector operate before the power was cut off for the last time. They had it under the old dome upstairs in the museum and it was loaded out via freight elevator which was situated conveniently nearby. Cables were pulled from the conduit so nothing was cut, which is very fortunate. My sincere gratitude to Planetarium Director Mitch Luman of Koch Immersive Theater in Evansville, IN who was instrumental in helping to preserve this historic Spitz projector as they upgraded to a new beautiful state-of-the-art facility. If you are ever in Evansville, IN please stop in to see their new digital theater, it is absolutely world class and awesome in every way. While travelling west on I-40 on the way home I stopped at Clines Corners, New Mexico and scored this Roswell themed coffee cup as a momento of my journey. I am lucky to get the manual complete with schematics.

[m2b]

Congrat's on another great find and save!

[DZ]

Nice work as always, Spitz!

[Eidetic]

Excellent! Gotta keep these old machines alive.

[SpitzSTP]

Excellent! Gotta keep these old machines alive.

Thank you!!! I got a message from Mitch last week, the director of Evansville Planetarium, saying that not a week goes by that someone does not ask him, what happened to the old star projector? This is remarkable, given there is a beautiful new, state-of-the-art immersive full-dome theater next door that can run circles around the old technology. Point being, that people REMEMBER the old planetarium. and the people and friends that went along with it throughout the years. There have even been inquiries from people wanting certain old seats out of the dome, for example, ones where marriage proposals were made and that sort of thing. Evansville's humble 512 will have a home here, as long as I am still around. This instrument still works, some of her paint is worn off but that doesn't matter when the house lights are dimmed.

[m2b]

People really like the good old fashioned star shows as well as the strange machine in the middle of the room. I think we need a national old projector day during which all the old projectors are given a chance to shine once again. (pun intended )

[laserist]

Ah - excuse me - but while the "state of the art" (btw there a whole lot of BS in that phrase) fulldome systems can project video content, and it's sometimes really cool, but compared to a state of the art opto-mechanical projector - (I'm sorry, but your humble 512 never came close to being one of those.) fulldome star fields range from "they suck" to "they really suck". There are a lot of planetarium people hoping that higher and higher resolution will fix that problem, but you'd need to quadruple the intensity for ever time you double the resolution, and if you could quadruple the intensity you'd just paint the dome darker for better fulldome contrast. Don't get me started about the systems with a 2000:1 native contrast that lights up the entire room. Or the ones... Well - just No - when it comes to simulating the night sky fulldome don't even run rings around your Spitz 512.

Thank you!!! I got a message from Mitch last week, the director of Evansville Planetarium, saying that not a week goes by that someone does not ask him, what happened to the old star projector? This is remarkable, given there is a beautiful new, state-of-the-art immersive full-dome theater next door that can run circles around the old technology. Point being, that people REMEMBER the old planetarium. and the people and friends that went along with it throughout the years. There have even been inquiries from people wanting certain old seats out of the dome, for example, ones where marriage proposals were made and that sort of thing. Evansville's humble 512 will have a home here, as long as I am still around. This instrument still works, some of her paint is worn off but that doesn't matter when the house lights are dimmed.

[JohnYayas]

Ah - excuse me - but while the "state of the art" (btw there a whole lot of BS in that phrase) fulldome systems can project video content, and it's sometimes really cool, but compared to a state of the art opto-mechanical projector - (I'm sorry, but your humble 512 never came close to being one of those.) fulldome star fields range from "they suck" to "they really suck". There are a lot of planetarium people hoping that higher and higher resolution will fix that problem, but you'd need to quadruple the intensity for ever time you double the resolution, and if you could quadruple the intensity you'd just paint the dome darker for better fulldome contrast. Don't get me started about the systems with a 2000:1 native contrast that lights up the entire room. Or the ones... Well - just No - when it comes to simulating the night sky fulldome don't even run rings around your Spitz 512.

You may be right but the new digital projectors do more than just project dots on the ceiling and can simulate stars from any point of view (ie the opposite end of the galaxy) whereas the old projectors are pretty limited in that regard. So, although the dots may not look as bright or sharp, the rest of what the new systems do (which includes full dome video projection) blows the old star casters out of the water. I've seen the difference at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill and I could tell there were pros and cons with the new system.