Planetarium inventor's interesting but sad tale

[CJ]

Posted on the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium facebook page.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/02/planetarium_history_nazis_persecute d_inventor_rudolf_straubel_of_zeiss .html

[Stardrifter_WA]

Interesting article Chris.

I was fortunate to meet the Curator of the Springfield Massachusetts Science Museum at Stellafane. He invited me to see his museum, which I did, and I got a personal planetarium showing. Their planetarium has one of the oldest, if not the oldest, US made projectors.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, the interior of the dome is in need of dire repairs. You can see water stains on the dome.

[CJ]

Hi Peter. I expect getting funding for repairs has been impacted by being able to stick a planetarium on your phone or pc for free, even though it's nowhere near the same thing.
Even so, Brisbane Planetarium has recently replaced their Zeiss projector with some new type. I imagine the digital world has consigned many Zeiss projetors to the scrapyard.
I saw one in action at the Science Museum in London in the early seventies. I remember it quite vividly. One of those wow moments.
I thought Neil deGrasse Tyson's words at the end of that article were quite poignant.

[Stardrifter_WA]

I agree Chris, what Tyson comments are correct, but then, many people, particularly in the US, can no longer see the night sky from the city, so a planetarium may be the only option. But, I don't agree that an "app" gives you the same experience though, even if they are readily available. I really enjoyed the planetarium show in Springfield Mass.

When I first arrived in LA, I went outside the hotel to look at the northern hemisphere stars for the first time and all I saw was "1" star, and maybe that was a planet anyway, but I couldn't tell. The light pollution is horrendous.

But, I actually did get to see the northern sky, after four weeks in my trip, but at a dark location, Stellafane. Scorpius was in the wrong place, it was on its side low on the horizon. :question:

I did visit the Hayden whilst in New York. I hope to visit the Adler Planetarium during my next trip to the US this May.

Cheers Pete

[N1]

Back in Jena, the Zeiss Planetarium (the 3rd oldest in operation) got a new Zeiss projector called "Universarium" a couple of years ago. I've seen the thing in action, it's outstanding. They complement that with full dome laser projection of space related movies and other content. The key to making a planetarium work in today's environment is the added value applications. You can also have candlelit dinners there under the stars, and the "weather" is always perfect. There's no way to simulate that with some app :lol:

[CJ]

Ha. what a great idea! Particularly if you live somewhere with massive light pollution.

[CJ]

We are in agreement Pete!
With respect, I did originally state that they don't give you the same experience.

Cheers