Digital Projection illuminates North America's first seamless dome planetarium

The installation carried out in the planetarium of the Bell Museum in Minnesota is based on the Astro-Tec Ulteria Seam Dome solution, a dome on which Digital Projection's Insight Dual Laser 4K projectors display content that has been custom developed with Uniview software and the ColorSpace Theater Control system.

Located in the University of Minnesota, he museo Bell reopened this summer after being renovated and moving to a new location on the St. Paul. It houses the first planetarium in North America to incorporate a 'seamless' dome (seamless): el Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan, that works with the Insight Dual Laser 4K system Digital Projection.

This equipment has become a key element for planetarium design., due to its real 4K resolution, their 27.000 Lumens of brightness and 20.000 hours of laser phosphor illumination. By offering high quality image quality, from a long-lasting light source with minimal running costs, It also offers a very low overall cost.

The renewal, which has been carried out by Capital Planning and Project Management at the University of Minnesota, combines two institutions: the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, that has expanded its building built over the years 40 and where all its historical dioramas and scientific collections are collected; and the Minneapolis Planetarium, which was shot down in 2002.

The provider of digital solutions for planetariums Sciss, has been the company awarded to carry out this project.

The planetarium's intention was to incorporate the most innovative and cutting-edge technology to produce data visualizations that span the arts and sciences., and that seeks to transport the audience from the ends of the universe to the interior of the human brain.

To achieve this experience, a dual 4K projection system was required that reflected a light of 2.0 ft Lambert. The light shines directly from the dome with a reflectivity of 45%, while projecting the target at maximum power. The solution required more than 10 million pixels in the dome and less than or equal to 3.0 average arc minutes per pixel, as well as a native contrast ratio of 2000: 1 and a shine to 5.000 lumens per projector.

The solution installed for this planetarium 16 meters and 120 seats is based on the Ulteria Seam Dome solution from Astro-Tec, a dome on which Digital Projection's Insight Dual Laser 4K projectors play videos in real time at full dome. The contents have been custom developed for the planetarium, using Uniview software and Sciss ColorSpace Theater Control system

Sally Brummel, planetarium manager, Explain the factors that influenced your choice. “We have been using Uniview in our portable planetarium for 2006. While we were looking for the new system, “We investigated all the options and decided that Sciss was the best option for the renovated facility.”.

Given the Insight Dual Laser 4K projector's ability to produce a 4K60p signal over a single cable, while other models require two or even four cables to transmit the same signal, A significant cost reduction associated with extenders and cables was applied.