planetarium
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The largest planetarium in the West is coming to New Jersey
If you want to see one of the biggest, boldest recreations of the night sky, you might only have to book a trip to New Jersey in the near future. Jersey City's Liberty Science Center says it's building the largest planetarium in the Western hemisphere, the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, thanks to a $5 million donation from its namesake. The move will upgrade the Center's massive IMAX dome theater (88 feet across) so that it can double as a planetarium, adding digital projection in the process. If all goes according to plan, it should be ready sometime in December 2017.
New York planetarium to host 200-player space game tonight (video)
Got plans for this evening? Cancel them now, and do everything you can to sneak into New York's Museum of Natural History. Because tonight, the museum's planetarium will play host to a 200-person space game, courtesy of Brooklyn's Babycastles arcade. It's all part of the museum's "Cosmic Cocktails and Space Arcade" evening -- an event that seems tailor made for anyone interested in cosmology, humans, and/or hallucinogens. The showcase of the soiree is the Space Cruiser game, which promises to turn the ceiling of the Rose Center for Earth and Space into a "living, breathing, space ship where participants navigate around a beautiful fictitious universe." With the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt assuming the tripartite role of ship captain-navigator-narrator, the game apparently begins with the birth of the universe, before transporting visitors across new galaxies and through time-bending wormholes. The ship launches at 6:30 PM tonight, but unfortunately, tickets are already sold out. Head past the break, though, for a rather "duuuude"-inducing video.
Chicago's Adler Planetarium to start projecting 8K by 8K images from this July, put cinema screens to shame
Okay, so it's not quite 8K video, we're not there yet, but the Adler Planetarium and its brand new Grainger Sky Theater are about to show us what 64 megapixel images look like on a big screen. Described as the "largest single seamless digital image in the world," the picture inside the planetarium will come from 20 projectors hooked up to 45 computers processing data, and should provide the most lucid and captivating view unto our universe that one can get without actually exiting the Earth's atmosphere. The new show kicks off on July 8th, having been put together with aid from NASA and IBM among others. Jump past the break for the full press release.
Hudson's Planetarium lighting WiiWare's sky
Having triumphed in the looking-at-fish genre, Hudson is turning its attention to the sky. Planetarium for WiiWare, out in Japan tomorrow, is a virtual cosmos, featuring views from different cities, along with information about various constellations and other celestial objects of note.
Sega's HomeStar Spa: Plane-arium edition
-his one slipped pas- but i-'s wor-h a back-rack -o -he glory days of celes-ial ba-hing. No, no- Roman -imes, bu- -he firs- week of June, when Sega -oys in-roduced i-s Homes-ar Plane-arium Spa Edi-ion -o -he rubby-ducky infes-ed wa-ers of -he home ba-h. -he wa-erproof orb projec-s -he nigh- sky on-o -he ceiling or pa--erns such as roses and man-a rays on-o -he -ub below. $65, -ha-'s how much. Oh, damn -his bone disease! [Via Environmental Graffiti, thanks guest-editor Dr. Adams]
Clockwork model of the solar system is straight out of Myst
We've seen some far-out personal astronomy devices, but this mechanical "planetarium" from Richard Mille is also one of the most intricate pieces of clockwork we've ever come across. The model, which took 10 years to develop, displays the time, date, signs of the zodiac, phases of the moon, and relative placement of the planets in the solar system, and runs for 15 days once its spring windings are fully tightened. No word on price, but since Mille handbuilt just one of these, we're guessing "not cheap" would be a strong first guess.[Via Watch Luxus]
Sega Homestar Pro planetarium Winter Edition
We could think of quite a few things we'd rather be doing than gazing at stars projected on the ceilings of the Engadget HQ, but if your social life hasn't reached that higher plane, or perhaps has so far exceeded ours that planetariums are the hip new thing for your crowd, then by all means run out and pick up Sega Toys' Homestar Pro planetarium Winter Edition. The Homestar Pro Winter Edition squeezes together all the greatness that has been the Homestar series onto a sixe piece star disc set for a mere 36,540 yen ($315 US), and will be out on November 15th as a limited edition in Japan.[Thanks, Mike]
Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center's planetarium upgraded to high-def
High-def and science seems to be going together like macaroni and cheese lately. Well, with that underwater exploration story and then now that the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh has upgraded their planetarium to HD, it proves high definition isn't just all fun and games. The $1 million dollar DigitalSky by SkySkan projects up to five million pixels per frame by way of custom real-time presentations with the latest NASA images and databases. Images are shot up onto a 50-foot domed screen and is unlike your grade school planetarium memories thanks to magic of high definition. We are curious though if we slip the receptionist a twenty, or a new Sling Box, if they would let us throw a Monday Night Football kegger viewing party?[Via The Pittsbugh Channel]
Five million stars in new PSP non-game
Nintendo has learned a valuable lesson from its Touch Generation series of games: people don't want to play games, they want to learn! Sega plans on bringing a new non-game to the PSP called Homestar, which unfortunately has nothing to do with Homestar Runner. It's a planetarium that fits in your pocket, with five million stars, sixteen magnitudes of zoom, and the ability to recreate natural phenomenon like eclipses. You'll be able to read up on the history of certain stellar bodies, and with Fantasy Theater mode, you can learn more about the stars in a voice-narrated guide, similar to space shows at natural history museums.It's coming to Japan on 10/19 and comes with the low, low price of 3280 yen (about $30). Are you going to rush out and pre-order this baby? Because I'm not...[Via IGN]
