Innovation Special Planetariums 9 - Carl Zeiss Planetariums

Many automatic astronomy programs
were adapted at the Wolfsburg Planetarium
in a manner such that, instead
of the digital stars, the sharply resolved,
point-structured stars of the STARMAS-
TER shine in all their glory. Experience
tells us that the visitors like the sight of
the true-to-nature night sky produced
by the STARMASTER. “Pixel stars“ betray
the artificial nature of the celestial bodies
and rob visitors of the illusion that
attracted them to the planetarium in the
first place.
The team formed by the analog and
digital systems has become irreplaceable
in the live events at the Wolfsburg Planetarium.
Zooming into faraway celestial
bodies that at first appear inconspicuous
when seen with the naked eye always
triggers a Wow! effect, especially in
youngsters.
The digital contents are first entered in
the powerdome®ShowManager. Its user
interface is optimized for the playback
of complete shows, but also enables
production of live shows. Electronic
elements such as a digital planetarium,
flat and dome filling images, and clips
or also audio files are imported from the
(live) performance.
By using the combined systems, the
planetarium can more effectively design
and present sophisticated live events. In
this process, we have frequently reached
the limit of the systems. At the moment,
the Wolfsburg Planetarium does not
have a real-time system, for example
UNIVIEW, that could supplement the
strong hardware combination.
Photo credits: Wolfsburg Planetarium.
“Credentials”
Planetarium Wolfsburg gGmbH
Uhlandweg 2
38440 Wolfsburg
www.planetarium-wolfsburg.de
ZEISS STARMASTER ZMP
ZEISS powerdome®VELVET
Opening: 1983
Reopening: 2010
Dome diameter: 15 m
Seats: 140
Innovation Special Planetariums 9, 2012
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