Planetarium Projector for kids

[Mliss]

I saw this today at the local toy shop and was so tempted to get it... for the kids of course ;) ;)

I thought i'd put this out there and ask if anyone else had seen/bought this.

They were selling it for $59.00, there's an aussie seller on ebay asking $74.90 for the same thing. :shrug:


http://unclemilton.com/explore_it/star_theater_3/

[Allan_L]

But, unfortunately (for us) it only covers stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere.
(possibly why the Aussie guy is selling his :question: )

[Mliss]

ugh! really?

thank goodness i didn't get it then. i don't know if i even would have considered that! i was just so suprised when i saw 'stellarium'. what a shame, it looked really cool too.

:lol: @ ebay guy, you're probably right. :question:

[Suzy]

I had a look at the link and all the piccies and I got very excited for one for myself, why? Because I can :P.
But then I read it was for ages 8 and up :ashamed::ashamed::ashamed:

And then I thought, hold on, what a fabulous way to spend the night when clouded in! :D Wouldn't it be just sooo relaxing laying down in the dark, having that globe do it's thing, whilst listening to some space music like Pink Floyd or Constance Demby :question:

Or would my family think I've gone too far ...:rolleyes:

I couldn't find any thing saying what altitude it covers.:shrug:
If it's only for northern, it should still show down to Centaurus? So, I'm thinking there's lots to be seen anyway.:question:

[torana68]

dont see the problem, your over 8 (not by a lot :D ) looks like fun...

[Jen]

lol Suzy yeah i thought i could practice my imaging using that hehe :lol:

[Mliss]

:lol: of course i wasn't the only one *looks at SuzyNova* :D:rofl:

i have no idea how Allan knew, but i went back to the link and downloaded the manual.... and he was right. Northern Hemisphere only :shrug:

i am tempted to email them and ask, what the.... :question:

something like this would even be really cool for kids at school or even on a Luna night or something.

[Suzy]

Nice save!
A man of tact- you'll go far. :thumbsup::lol:

:lol: & Jen.

Mel, email away- tell them that the earth is a round globe, not half a globe. :screwy: :lol:

[michaellxv]

Save your money. I have a similar unit which is designed for the southern hemisphere and it is not very good. You have to hold it too high and close to the ceiling to get a focussed image. It might be ok in a hobbit's house.

[Mliss]

what luck, i'm a hobbit. :D:lol:

[Suzy]

Thanks for the feedback, Michael. :thanx:

[Poita]

The Sega Homestar Planetariums are the best I've seen, and they have discs for the southern hemisphere available.
http://www.segahomestar.com/Sega_Homestar_Planetariums/index.html
They often come up in ebay for more reasonable prices, but are expensive.
If you ever see one cheap, grab it!

[Bosi72]

Sega planetariums are selling for $500+ which is too much for my budget. Also, a person in some review said Sega's are overpriced and not of high quality, and it would be better if he purchased projector and plugged into computer/google sky/stellarium..

That gave me an idea to proceed with projector, however when searching for wide angle lenses I come to another disappointment in terms of pricing.
http://navitar.com/product/hemistar-dome-lenses.aspx
plus good projector could go above $10k in total...

Finally, I decided to continue with cheaper option so I purchased Chinese NCO 907M projector on the eBay for $300, then experiment with some wide angle lenses.

The worst case scenario, and at the end of the day, I am sure projector will give us some fun :)

Cheers