Planetarium Uses Digistar II Projection Technology
In Flint, Michigan at the Longway Planetarium to mark Longway’s 50th anniversary, the Flint Cultural Center Corporation plans a “Dancing Under the Stars” event scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, May 10. Around 60,000 people visited the Planetarium last year for shows and programs. Their projector they use at the planetarium, the Digistar II, which uses Sony projectors, cost a staggering $650,000 in 2001, which amounted to a little more than the $600,000 of the original building cost in April 9, 1957. The Digistar II was designed by Evans & Sutherland – Digistar Users Group, however this projector was later replaced by the Digistar 3. “Unlike modern full-dome systems, which use LCD, DLP, SXRD or Laser projection technology, the heart of the Digistar II is a large Cathode Ray Tube. A phosphor plate is mounted atop the tube, and light is then dispersed by a large lens to cover the planetarium dome. The use of a CRT means the Digistar II has a darker black-level than full-dome projectors, but, as it is only one tube, the D2 is monochromatic. The Digistar II projects a bright, phosphorescent green–though many (including both visitors and planetarians) report they cannot distinguish between this green and white.” (Wikipedia) While the Digistar 3 is the newer technology, the Digistar II still utilizes complex algorithms and runs off of a Sun Microsystems system.
[via Mlive]
