This is a duplicate of the post which shows the whole contraption. However, the Zeiss Mark I is such a beautiful object that we couldn't resists posting this close up.
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incredible planetarium projectors
For sheer baroque complexity of appearance, planetarium projectors are among the most amazing gizmos ever built. They range from enormous machines more than 20 ft. high to a soccer ball sized $300 home version.
Their purpose is a bizarre reversal of a large optical telescope, taking an internal view of the universe and projecting it on a dome, rather than creating a view from peering outside of one, but the aesthetic is somewhat similar. Another curious similarity is how much they look like some early satellites.
Our personal favorites are the original Zeiss, Mark I and the truly amazing machine built by the Korkosz brothers for the, appropriately named, Seymour Planetarium.
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If you head up to Springfield Massachusetts you can see this unique projector which was restored in 1996 for the appropriately named, Seymour Planetarium. It was built just before WWII at a time when the four other planetariums in the US all used Zeiss machines.
The Mark I Zeiss represents the beginning of modern planetaria - accurately projecting stars and their relative movements, over time, onto the inside of a dome. It was developer by Walther Bauersfeld, chief design engineer and later director of Carl Zeiss just after the first World War. Like many scientific objects, this first generation machine does not look like what became the standard shape.
The first truly affordable home planetarium projector was only released very recently. Using bright LED’s, the HomeStar Pro costs less than $300
Photo: Dave Bullock / eecue
This is one of Zeiss current range of planetarium projectors, which favor the ‘disco ball’ design.
Unfortunately we have no idea who made this device. However, you can see it along with some excellent pictures of other projectors at Owen Phairis’, Big Bear Traveling Planetarium website.
Looking at this latest projector from Zeiss, you can see that the original design of the Model II Zeiss remains visible half a century later.
Although Zeiss dominate planetarium projectors, Minolta produced several models, such as this one.
The second Zeiss model has a dumbbell form that remains unchanged today. This one was in use until the early 70’s when it was replaced by a newer model Zeiss.
Between the small polyhedral A series projector, and the larger A 3 P, Spitz produced a large projector to rival Zeiss designs, but still based upon pinhole projection.
in the late 30s, Armand Spitz set out to create a much cheaper planetarium projector that could be affordable by schools. The results was the A, A-1 and A-2 which were based upon a revolving dodecahedron.
