plan·e·tar·i·um
Pronunciation Key (plān'ĭ-târ'ē-əm)
n. pl. plan·e·tar·i·ums or plan·e·tar·i·a (-ē-ə)
1. An apparatus or model representing the solar system.
2. An optical device for projecting images of celestial bodies and other astronomical phenomena onto the inner surface of a hemispherical dome.
3. A building or room containing a planetarium, with seats for an audience.
Got this from Tokyo last year and had been meaning to fix it up for a long time now but was waiting to settle into the house first.
Finally got it up and working lastnight and spent hours pouring over star charts to check for accuracy. It's darn accurate! ;)
This should help alleviate some of the worst symptoms of Mersing-withdrawal. XD
*sigh* I thought for a moment you are talking about a terrarium. Guess, I could try making one myself someday..check the following site out...http://www.hmk.on.ca/terrarium.html
ReplyDeleteaiyah. Me no interested in terrarium. Me have me eyes firmly set towards the heavens.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping someday, I get a pair of prawns swimming in the small ocean of the terrarium...
ReplyDeleteHmmm... me eats prawns so that won't work in me home.
ReplyDeleteif it as tiny as a pair of hair-be?
ReplyDeletethen they be fried to garnish me carrot cake
ReplyDeletewow do watch out for 流星雨 and make a wish..
ReplyDeletewhile eating the carrot cake...
ReplyDeletewith delicious shrimps... for garnishing..
ReplyDeleteI still need to build a round dome for the projection. Right now it just projects all over the ceiling and walls. The square room distorts the starfield somewhat. Still thinking hard where and how to build my dome.
ReplyDeleteam sure u can figure it out, AB, u are good with your hands.. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAiyah, use a fish tank lah - round one of course!
ReplyDeleteyou find me a fish tank big enough then I'll consider it. I need a semi-circular dome at least 4-5 ft in diameter for it to project properly.
ReplyDeleteah.. 4 to 5ft... say so lah.
ReplyDeleteso lah
ReplyDelete4 or 5ft square or rectangle fish tank have, round one must custom make..
ReplyDeletebesides, you'll need to hold it upside down. That much glass is way too heavy to mount upside down.
ReplyDeleteand semi circle... 难上加难！
ReplyDeleteyes. More like a big, big kuali, painted matt black.
ReplyDeleteWhy so big? from the pix, it looked rather tiny.
ReplyDeletethat's just the projector.
ReplyDeleteall right... will keep a look out for anything that is huge and round.
ReplyDeletenein. I'll probably make one from paper-mache and mount it into the ceiling somewhere. Alternatively, I'll get a contractor to make rounded drop ceiling aroung one of the corners in the ceiling.
ReplyDeleteYou will need something to reflect the lights yes?
ReplyDeletenope. I need it matt like a projector screen, only in black since the dots of white light coming from the projector will show better on black although if the room is kept pitch black, white will do too.... just not reflective or you'll get glare and not see the pinpricks of light that represent the stars.
ReplyDeleteOh, ok, maybe you just need a food cover with plenty of holes. Ok, ok, I know I deserve a knock in the head, but then, it was kind of fun to think of the things you could use. :)
ReplyDeletefood cover with plenty of holes? For what? I need a curved projection screen for my projector to project onto!
ReplyDeletefood cover, semi circle, just that it might not be big enough for your requirement.
ReplyDeleteI don't want anything with holes in them! I want a round projection screen for displaying a projected star field from my new projector!
ReplyDeletethen get one without holes...
ReplyDeleteyou have one that's not heavy but 4-5 ft in diameter in matt black?
ReplyDeletea hugh kuali...
ReplyDeleteyup that's what I was considering. But a big steel kuali that large will be too heavy to mount onto the wall. Besides, someone might think it's a satellite dish and report me for illegal possession of one.
ReplyDeleteactually, you should consider a satellite dish, it should be just fine.
ReplyDeletenot really. The commercial satellite dishes you can get in Malaysia are only about 1-2ft in diameter. Too small.
ReplyDeleteok, still from Singtel then.
ReplyDeleteor starhub. or M1.
ReplyDeleteHaiz, you can't get a satellite dish legally in Singapore not like in Malaysia, unless you write in for special permission and you probably need to be some big corporation to do that. YOu won't find either Singtel, starhub or M1 selling satellite dishes.
ReplyDeletewho says buy, steal... get down to Sentosa.... maybe that one would be too big... check the dishes at Comcentre
ReplyDeleteagain.... a satellite dish is made of.... surprise, surprise... steel. And steel, like our dear steel kuali, is too heavy to mount without some serious bolting into walls and ceilings.
ReplyDeletePVC, or polyester.. ?
ReplyDeletegot that type with aluminium?
ReplyDeleteno pvc, polyester or aluminium satellite dishes. They don't bounce signals well enough.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll stick to making a paper-mache or plaster dome. Only need to figure out where to put it so that it won't be too obvious when I'm not using the dome. Don't want to have this huge circular dome taking up space, cannot fold, cannot keep, cannot throw into the drawer....
get those like two halves of a fan, then you could fold them together.
ReplyDeletewith a fan, you might not get the surface smooth enough for an even projection. Too much distortion will not get accurate starfield
ReplyDeleteor fix lightings inside the dish so when not using it to watch stars, u can use it for reading...
ReplyDeleteso its a satellite dish cum ceiling light.
ReplyDeletegood idea. I did think of that but that still leaves me with having to make the darn projection circle first.
ReplyDeleteok. do keep us posted...
ReplyDeleteduly no turd. Will keep you deformed.
ReplyDeletechoi!
ReplyDeleteok i got to go take a nap... see ya later...
ReplyDeleteoi, how can you leave me now... you are having your holidays and I am still busy at you know where.
ReplyDeleteAll ye stars are inside? How bout's other celestial bodies?
ReplyDeleteYes and it's good enough to show even the milky way concentration of stars. Pretty neat-o!
ReplyDeleteBut unlike an actual sky, you can't see planets of course, nor meteors, nor comets, nor airplanes, nor satellites, nor moon, nor angels, nor valkyries.
Well, ok I've started making my projection dome. Originally used a wok cover to test. That turned out pretty good so went on to making the real one using my dining room lamp cover. I'll be extending it larger as soon as this original portion is dry. Still can't decide where to mount it yet though.
Projection dome is 2/3 finished. Just need one more third. Waiting for this new section to dry.
ReplyDeletePainting it black?
ReplyDeletethat's the thing. I can't decide. Black would be better for low light condition but would also dim the projection. White would make the projections stand out but would need almost pitched dark to minimise glare.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning towards white at the moment though. Real planetariums are all light greyish/white domes.
Ok definitely going with white. Tested it lastnight even before the glue had dried. It works very, very well. My fears of glare are unfounded. I just need to make sure the white paint I use is matt and not glossy. Besides, if I finally mount this egg-shell into a ceiling corner somewhere, I want it to merge into the wall so black is definitely not an option.
ReplyDelete