Planetarium Jena
The Zeiss - Planetarium in Jena is the world's oldest operating planetarium. It was opened on 18 July 1926. The Zeiss Planetarium is a planetarium projection, in which the fixed stars and planets are projected onto the inside of a white dome. The owner and operator of the planetarium is the Ernst Abbe Foundation.
History
The development of the planetarium is based on an idea by Oskar von Miller, the founder of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, which foresaw in his institution already in 1912 the establishment of a Ptolemaic planetarium -style walk-in celestial globe with a mechanical device for the representation of the planetary orbits. To realize he turned in 1913 to the company Carl Zeiss in Jena. Since the initial project proved too costly and difficult to implement technically, designed Dr. Walther Bauersfeld the beginning of 1919 the basic form for a planetarium device based on optomechanical light projection. This was installed in 1924 as a model I in Munich.
From the end of July 1924 some 80,000 people have already visited the first test demonstrations of the artificial night sky in a makeshift dome on the roof of the Jena Zeiss -Werke, this was hailed in the press as the "Miracle of Jena ." Due to great response and demand from other cities and regions, the company Carl Zeiss began planning a serious and permanent planetarium in Jena and the further development of the projector to the Zeiss - Planetarium - later called model II Within a few months were planning and design and end in 1924 the construction of the Jena 25-meter planetarium designed by the architect Schreiter & Impact in the former Prinzessinnengarten. After 1926 first large planetariums have already been opened in Wuppertal -Barmen, Leipzig and Dusseldorf, followed on July 18, 1926 Jena worldwide as Number Four.
In the year 1984/85, the planetarium was further expanded structurally and technically. The installation of computer-controlled technology as well as the exchange with other planetariums on both sides of the Iron Curtain led to a reorientation of programs and visitor. 1993 was followed by further technical innovations in the field of peripheral projection technologies such as the All- Sky slide projection and panoramic systems. 1996 was still running in classic dumbbell shape star projector Zeiss Cosmorama by the Star Ball model VIII " Universarium " also replaced by Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH. After extensive structural restructuring the Planetarium was founded in October 2004 by the restaurant " Bauersfeld " extended. 2006 saw the installation of the laser-based full-dome projection system ADLIP (All Dome Laser Image Projection ) of Carl Zeiss and Jenoptik company. The Planetarium Jena became the first laser-based full-dome planetarium in Europe.
Current projection technology
Digital dome projection
On November 3, 2011, a completely new video and audio system was installed, which was titled with the phrase " The New Planetarium ". It involves the power-dome ® VELVET projection system of the company Carl Zeiss AG, which allows a realistic representation of Hell-/Dunkelkontrasten and replaces the previously used ADLIP system. A higher resolution of up to 4096x4096 pixel2 is now possible and an increased contrast ratio of 2.500.000:1.
With the help of eight operating synchronously Velvet projectors it is possible to display moving images on the entire dome with more than 800 m². The partial images are blended together that the viewer sees no transitions, but only one complete image on the dome. The projectors are installed at the edge of the dome.
Carl Zeiss delivers the laser projector and the imaging computer system " Power Dome". This system handles the distortion correction, the distribution of the total image on each projector and the edge-blending in real time.
Optomechanical star projection
The "old " heart of the planetarium 's star projector installed the 1996 model VIII only with him it is possible to generate crystal sharp points of light that represent the firmament deceptively real.
Projection dome
First time new calculations and production methods for thin-walled domes ( shells ) of concrete have been developed for the construction of the planetarium. The planetarium, with its hemispherical dome was developed by Walther Bauersfeld. It consists of a rod network similar to the geodesic domes that were built in later years by Richard Buckminster Fuller. The dome of the planetarium was built by the construction company Dyckerhoff & Widmann AG and designed by Franz Dischinger. The only six inches thick concrete shell of the planetarium dome has a diameter of 25 meters.
Planetarium programs
Like many other large planetariums has the Planetarium Jena on a growing tradition -house planetarium show production. In addition to classic live recited star guides a wide range of multimedia educational and entertainment events is shown in the Planetarium Jena.
Others
The new sound system - the 3D sound system " Spatial Sound Wave " - is the world's first permanent installation of Ilmenau Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in a planetarium dome and creates a surround sound experience with a difference, since it works with the wave field synthesis.