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| It has been a while since our last post. A lot has happened in the last few weeks. The carpet and the seats have been installed. Notice all the seats now face South. Yes we have fewer seats than before when they were in the round, but now everyone has a great view of the dome. After jumping around from seat to seat, I actually like the seats on the outside ends the best. Go figure? The Star Machine installation is pretty much done. But we still have much to do before we are ready for the public. The new shows will utilize this awesome technology and look light years different from our past offerings. However, before any of that can happen, training has to begin. |
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Moving the Infinium S into place was a little nerve racking for us bystanders. Thankfully, before we could even finish discussing, "how are they going to do this?" it was done. The Konica Minolta crew had the machine placed on the lift in just a matter of minutes.
The lift (the first picture in this series) raises the Star Projector to the "Horizon Line" also known as the "Spring Line" of the dome.
The last photo shows the Star Projector and the Planet Projector together. The Planet Projector is the long console behind the Star Projector.
A new Konica Minolta Crew will be here next week to focus the Planet Projector and train the staff. The current crew will be leaving next week after they have focused the Star Projector. |
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The Infinium S
"Star Ball" |
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The Star Ball was assembled in Japan and took about three months to complete. |
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This is the first Konica Minolta Infinium S Star Machine to be installed anywhere in the world outside of Japan. The Star Machine is being prepped for placement in the pit. It will rise from the ground and look totally cool. If you have visited the Planetarium before, you may notice a slight resemblance to our old Minolta Star Machine installed in 1970. The De Anza Planetarium lives on.
Technical Tidbits about Infinium S |
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| The new star machine is here. The day we have all been waiting for for years. Really, it has been years in the making. Konica Minolta sent over three employees form Japan and they got right to work unpacking all the parts. The star projector should take about a month to assemble. We have already sneaked a peek at the "Star Ball" and it is awesome. Stay tuned. |
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| The new Star Machine is here. Does anybody know how to put this thing together? |
These gentleman know what they are doing. Thankfully they showed up with the boxes. |
The first box to be opened. Not the big one. The little one on the right. The tool box of course. |
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| The dome is complete. Each panel has been hung. The panels actually have hundreds of holes in them to limit the amount of reflection from the star projector. In the right light, you can see right through them. However, a "seamless" dome has to be sprayed to cover up the seams and you would think the holes. Somehow the paint does not fill in the holes? |
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| Scaffolding don't let me down. |
The last piece had to be perfect. This is take two. |
The old dome looked like the inside of a volley ball. This new one looks like an egg. |
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| The dome may be blue on the outside, but the real transformation is on the inside. We are installing a "seamless" dome. Here is the beginning of the installation. You are looking at the center of the dome. The ribbing being connected to the circle at the top of the scaffolding will hold the new dome. |
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| The interior of the Planetarium will be totally renovated. The seating will no longer be in the round much more on that in the near future. Here is a tiny sample of the interior under construction. |
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| The Infinium S leaving the factory in Japan. Once it gets to Cupertino we will have extensive coverage of the unboxing and installation. |
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Walking around the De Anza campus, the buildings can start to look the same. Not anymore. The blue dome can't be missed. The color matches the new Infinium S Star Projector. |
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The new Star Machine will rise out of the ground. See the new pit and the old dome coming down after the jump.
More photos |
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