A friend the other sent a planetarium program he had written and produced on DVD .. I praised it, but he responded .. it was a bit boring, I'll do better next time. But shouldn't.. mustn't education be at least a LITTLE boring? Can education always be riveting?
If we accept education and entertainment as one in the same, boring is a problem. But reality all too often IS boring, and if we as planetarium builders arent a little geeky, we probably are in denial. Perhaps its time to embrace a little bit of our inner geek, and dare to be boring sometimes. Will this not lend a little dignity to the proceedings? Make clear this is education too, not just thrill a minute.
Include some arcane details in your show .. not too much, but for those present who are looking for deeper waters, an invitation to dive in cannot be such a bad thing.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Console-ation or the Odd Ballet
To console is to make feel better - and I'm definitely needing some consolation in my home planetarium as my first show laboriously comes together - an hour to write and 5 years to produce! To wit - I dont have a console .. a control console, a place where all my switches may be conveniently switched. Surely this is universal in live performance - how do they see in orchestra pits. behind stages .. in the dark... but surely all their dimmers and faders and such are marching in glowing rows in front of them, ripe for the tweaking.
Not so the home planetarium such as me. For each effect - from the star projector on down .. has been home built. Some are electric .. some battery .. and they are mounted everywhere. Some are in the center on the projector support, where they hang like my parakeets to the side of their cage .. others are off to the side, precarious and hopefully pointed to where they will need to show a ghostly Orion etc .. some are not mounted at all - they will need to be grabbed by me at the opportune moment
And where are those switches? Some are on the side of duct taped flashlights .. one is inside a blackened tin can .. commercial laser levelers have tiny switches on the bottom.. some are knife switches .. some are 50's vintage variacs .. at points in my show I must reach in between five other effects to flip on a power strip which the whole star cylinder rotates upon ..
Is it any wonder the creation of these things took X time, now the placement is taking Y time, and then the actual smooth operation will take Z time. X plus Y plus Z = ?
So the next time we admire modern commercial anythings, let us take a moment to admire that organizing console - or better still, that remote control .. every at our fingertips.
I dont have console-ation.. rather I will be performing a rather odd ballet in the dark. Excuse me, for I must go now .. its time to hit the next switch .. and its way in ............. HERE ...
Not so the home planetarium such as me. For each effect - from the star projector on down .. has been home built. Some are electric .. some battery .. and they are mounted everywhere. Some are in the center on the projector support, where they hang like my parakeets to the side of their cage .. others are off to the side, precarious and hopefully pointed to where they will need to show a ghostly Orion etc .. some are not mounted at all - they will need to be grabbed by me at the opportune moment
And where are those switches? Some are on the side of duct taped flashlights .. one is inside a blackened tin can .. commercial laser levelers have tiny switches on the bottom.. some are knife switches .. some are 50's vintage variacs .. at points in my show I must reach in between five other effects to flip on a power strip which the whole star cylinder rotates upon ..
Is it any wonder the creation of these things took X time, now the placement is taking Y time, and then the actual smooth operation will take Z time. X plus Y plus Z = ?
So the next time we admire modern commercial anythings, let us take a moment to admire that organizing console - or better still, that remote control .. every at our fingertips.
I dont have console-ation.. rather I will be performing a rather odd ballet in the dark. Excuse me, for I must go now .. its time to hit the next switch .. and its way in ............. HERE ...
Monday, May 17, 2010
Where Time Disappears
I've noticed a new Einsteinian effect when I'm working in my planetarium - time disappears! This is counter intuitive at first, for if I am master of my stars, my season, with the very night and day at my command, how can there BE no time?
Shut off from the outside world, hours don't seem to pass. Perhaps we have such easy access to time in the outer world .. we are never far from cellphones, watches, computers, the very sun itself in the sky .. that we always have an innate sense of what TIME IT IS, or at least how much time has passed .. its getting dark.. morning is wearing on .. the mailman just went by ..
But in the pristine chamber of our secret theater .. time stands still. I will go in to fiddle with a speaker or try a new effect .. and emerge after an imagined 10 minutes to find 2 hours in fact slipped by!
This is neither good nor bad in itself I suppose. But .. are we not happiest when we detach from time? Is that not the floating suspension of sleep .. the universal feeling of love, of having FUN .. the best times of our lives seemed to be timeless. Thus it is in my planetarium.
Therefore .. it is good!
Shut off from the outside world, hours don't seem to pass. Perhaps we have such easy access to time in the outer world .. we are never far from cellphones, watches, computers, the very sun itself in the sky .. that we always have an innate sense of what TIME IT IS, or at least how much time has passed .. its getting dark.. morning is wearing on .. the mailman just went by ..
But in the pristine chamber of our secret theater .. time stands still. I will go in to fiddle with a speaker or try a new effect .. and emerge after an imagined 10 minutes to find 2 hours in fact slipped by!
This is neither good nor bad in itself I suppose. But .. are we not happiest when we detach from time? Is that not the floating suspension of sleep .. the universal feeling of love, of having FUN .. the best times of our lives seemed to be timeless. Thus it is in my planetarium.
Therefore .. it is good!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
It Really Is All About You
What is a home planetarium?
Nobody KNOWS, because its undefined really, perhaps thats part of the charm. In my current introduction, I say something to the effect
Anybody here have hobbies? passions?
Anybody have more than 1?
Well, youre sitting in a combination of ALL of mine I wanted to share!
planetariums. history. astronomy. modeling. drama. music. construction. special effects. making things yourself. writing .
Picture the old one man band, with cymbals between his knees .. sortof that image
I think if I defy expectations, then its impossible to fail expectations. Maybe one group is silent and I feel lousy .. another is bouncing and want to hold the laser pointer and pass it around . thats why I keep insisting to myself you HAVE to pick up a guitar and play something during a show - alot of preachers down here in the bible belt even do that .. show people who you are ..
Its not supposed to be about US in life .. but somehow in a home built planetarium .. I kind of think theres no escaping that it IS about us
Because nobody else is this crazy
Nobody KNOWS, because its undefined really, perhaps thats part of the charm. In my current introduction, I say something to the effect
Anybody here have hobbies? passions?
Anybody have more than 1?
Well, youre sitting in a combination of ALL of mine I wanted to share!
planetariums. history. astronomy. modeling. drama. music. construction. special effects. making things yourself. writing .
Picture the old one man band, with cymbals between his knees .. sortof that image
I think if I defy expectations, then its impossible to fail expectations. Maybe one group is silent and I feel lousy .. another is bouncing and want to hold the laser pointer and pass it around . thats why I keep insisting to myself you HAVE to pick up a guitar and play something during a show - alot of preachers down here in the bible belt even do that .. show people who you are ..
Its not supposed to be about US in life .. but somehow in a home built planetarium .. I kind of think theres no escaping that it IS about us
Because nobody else is this crazy
Friday, March 19, 2010
IPS Recognition!
There has been a remarkable resurgence of the "Home Planetarium Association". The Home Planetarium Association (HPA) is the world’s first organized group of Home Planetarium builders, collectors, and enthusiasts! Founded in the mid 90s, HPA helps keep the dream alive of having your own star theater at home through a combination of how to tips, networking, and archiving. The main supporters are Ron Walker, a film producer, (walkprod@att,net) and Gary Likert who began this group. (mrgare5050@hotmail.com) Members communicate through an electronic magazine with a readership of over two hundred or more. http://www.planetariumsathome.com/
HPA has been somewhat detached from IPS for the past few years as our remarkable Observatory Central based resurgence has been a 3 year juggarnaut of activity, which has seen the rise of the Planetarium and Science Museum (to which HPA donated the first and only homemade planetarium, the Emmons/HPA projector made from one of Dick Emmons hand drilled starballs. As we look into the future, perhaps IPS looms larger again in our writings and networking!
HPA has been somewhat detached from IPS for the past few years as our remarkable Observatory Central based resurgence has been a 3 year juggarnaut of activity, which has seen the rise of the Planetarium and Science Museum (to which HPA donated the first and only homemade planetarium, the Emmons/HPA projector made from one of Dick Emmons hand drilled starballs. As we look into the future, perhaps IPS looms larger again in our writings and networking!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Home Planetarium Quotes
All my life I had dreamed of it, but it was absurd - nobody had the stars in their garage, their basement, their barn. But people do. Now I do too, and so can you. Dream. Dream BIG
For what is a dome really, an impossible yet impossibly graceful construct of curved nothingness that must be strong to contain the bowl of night, yet support only the unfathomably tiny pressure of the myriad starpoints
The HPA Philosophy: Make it don't buy it, convert it don't throw it away. Some junk is good junk. Upon dusty shelves may lurk treasures. Blessed is the messy back workroom. Its all about the gasp when someone whispers.. I see stars!
Ah good Professor! Its almost as if we spent so much time in the archives, we looked up one day and were amazed to find that we now WERE the archives....
Objects to be used in the Dark can be of fantastic and unlikely shape and hue, for they aren't really there anymore when they open thir portals onto infinity
quotes by gary likert
For what is a dome really, an impossible yet impossibly graceful construct of curved nothingness that must be strong to contain the bowl of night, yet support only the unfathomably tiny pressure of the myriad starpoints
The HPA Philosophy: Make it don't buy it, convert it don't throw it away. Some junk is good junk. Upon dusty shelves may lurk treasures. Blessed is the messy back workroom. Its all about the gasp when someone whispers.. I see stars!
Ah good Professor! Its almost as if we spent so much time in the archives, we looked up one day and were amazed to find that we now WERE the archives....
Objects to be used in the Dark can be of fantastic and unlikely shape and hue, for they aren't really there anymore when they open thir portals onto infinity
quotes by gary likert
Home Planetarium Specs
Drill Bit/Needle Sizes
mag hole size bit number
0-1 .076 - .089 48 - 45
1-0 .046 - .063 57 - 55
2-1 .040 - .033 68 - 60
3-2 .028 - .025 71 - 70
4-3 .0225 - .020 76 - 72
5 .0125 80
Lense your Star pinholes
The 9mm by 265mm lense sold by Anchor Optics
is currently the best lense for pinhole stars,
provide these for at least your 1st magntitudes for best results!
How Many Stars?
Mag Number
-27 1 (the big yellow one)
1 20
2 58
3 82
4 530
5 1600
6 4800
Starball Size
Fair 10 inch globe
Good 12 inch
Better 16 inch
Best 20+ inch
Light Source for starballs
Good 2.47 Volt Flashlight
Better Minimag LED
Best Stinger Streamlight LED
mag hole size bit number
0-1 .076 - .089 48 - 45
1-0 .046 - .063 57 - 55
2-1 .040 - .033 68 - 60
3-2 .028 - .025 71 - 70
4-3 .0225 - .020 76 - 72
5 .0125 80
Lense your Star pinholes
The 9mm by 265mm lense sold by Anchor Optics
is currently the best lense for pinhole stars,
provide these for at least your 1st magntitudes for best results!
How Many Stars?
Mag Number
-27 1 (the big yellow one)
1 20
2 58
3 82
4 530
5 1600
6 4800
Starball Size
Fair 10 inch globe
Good 12 inch
Better 16 inch
Best 20+ inch
Light Source for starballs
Good 2.47 Volt Flashlight
Better Minimag LED
Best Stinger Streamlight LED
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