Post by philostopher1 on Apr 15, 2022 11:29:48 GMT -7
Hello!
It looks like I am starting the first thread / post. I have a pretty long one going on Observatory Central in the planetarium group.
Many of you know me from there and my Facebook group "Planetarium Builder's and Enthusiasts".
Before I write an overview of where my projects are, I'll offer some history.
I kind of 'grew up' in the Kendall Planetarium when OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was in the Portland West Hills. Before I was born my parents had an established industrial machinery business selling, renting, and repairing, fork lifts, backhoes and loaders. When OMSI was being built my parents donated machine rentals. So benefactors got various plaques and acknowledgment throughout the museum. They had an unengraved one on a chair in the planetarium, second row from the back, on the aisle left of the console. When I was born, they had my name engraved in the plaque. As long as I can remember I had my own planetarium chair, and as long as I can remember I was obsessed with the planetarium and particularly the GOTO M1 Star Projector. At eight years old I was cannibalizing my parents 35mm slides, taping tin foil over them and poking holes with a needle to make star fields. These were projected on my bedroom ceiling with a Zeiss Ikomat slide projector. So my first star projector was a Zeiss.
Entering my teenage years, I saw a laser light show at OMSI. It changed my life. I knew at 13 that this is what I wanted to do but I wanted to do it in planetariums. By the time my laser light show business "Laseronics" was established a major shift had come and planetariums began dropping their laser shows. By then the market was also dominated by Laserium, Laser Fantasy and Audio Visual Imagineering. At this point it is in the later part of the 1990s and I am in my thirties. OMSI moved to Portland's East side and built a New Planetarium. The GOTO was retired, and I hounded them for years to buy it, but there was a "spare" M1 that was bought from the Jefferson County School district in Colorado. I understand it was used in the Nasa Pavilion at the New York World's Faire in Queens prior. I was able to buy that one for $1200. I hauled it around as I moved, and began construction on a 33-foot dome in Lewiston California. I lost the house and property during the housing bubble crash in 2008. The star projector is also gone, and I don't know where it ended up. It is too painful to provide the details. One of the biggest obstacles of my life has been major depression. It has interfered and impeded my abilities and potential at every turn.
Today I am 57 and I live in a Senior's trailer park on disability income. My living expenses are low enough that I have been able to pursue my passion again but at a smaller scale. At this point I have a 16.5 foot geodesic dome filling our tiny yard, needing ongoing work, and I am building an optical mechanical projector based around the Spitz STS / RSA COsmodyssee design. A split starball pinhole based projector with stars above 3rd magnitude augmented with individual lenses. I am also planning a 3 projector full dome video system with NestMap. Aside from this Paul Bourke has been helping me map the Hipparchos bright stars (up to 8000+) for press ready photolithographic plates. I am at the early design stages of a compact 12 lens and plate projector.
It looks like I am starting the first thread / post. I have a pretty long one going on Observatory Central in the planetarium group.
Many of you know me from there and my Facebook group "Planetarium Builder's and Enthusiasts".
Before I write an overview of where my projects are, I'll offer some history.
I kind of 'grew up' in the Kendall Planetarium when OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was in the Portland West Hills. Before I was born my parents had an established industrial machinery business selling, renting, and repairing, fork lifts, backhoes and loaders. When OMSI was being built my parents donated machine rentals. So benefactors got various plaques and acknowledgment throughout the museum. They had an unengraved one on a chair in the planetarium, second row from the back, on the aisle left of the console. When I was born, they had my name engraved in the plaque. As long as I can remember I had my own planetarium chair, and as long as I can remember I was obsessed with the planetarium and particularly the GOTO M1 Star Projector. At eight years old I was cannibalizing my parents 35mm slides, taping tin foil over them and poking holes with a needle to make star fields. These were projected on my bedroom ceiling with a Zeiss Ikomat slide projector. So my first star projector was a Zeiss.
Entering my teenage years, I saw a laser light show at OMSI. It changed my life. I knew at 13 that this is what I wanted to do but I wanted to do it in planetariums. By the time my laser light show business "Laseronics" was established a major shift had come and planetariums began dropping their laser shows. By then the market was also dominated by Laserium, Laser Fantasy and Audio Visual Imagineering. At this point it is in the later part of the 1990s and I am in my thirties. OMSI moved to Portland's East side and built a New Planetarium. The GOTO was retired, and I hounded them for years to buy it, but there was a "spare" M1 that was bought from the Jefferson County School district in Colorado. I understand it was used in the Nasa Pavilion at the New York World's Faire in Queens prior. I was able to buy that one for $1200. I hauled it around as I moved, and began construction on a 33-foot dome in Lewiston California. I lost the house and property during the housing bubble crash in 2008. The star projector is also gone, and I don't know where it ended up. It is too painful to provide the details. One of the biggest obstacles of my life has been major depression. It has interfered and impeded my abilities and potential at every turn.
Today I am 57 and I live in a Senior's trailer park on disability income. My living expenses are low enough that I have been able to pursue my passion again but at a smaller scale. At this point I have a 16.5 foot geodesic dome filling our tiny yard, needing ongoing work, and I am building an optical mechanical projector based around the Spitz STS / RSA COsmodyssee design. A split starball pinhole based projector with stars above 3rd magnitude augmented with individual lenses. I am also planning a 3 projector full dome video system with NestMap. Aside from this Paul Bourke has been helping me map the Hipparchos bright stars (up to 8000+) for press ready photolithographic plates. I am at the early design stages of a compact 12 lens and plate projector.