Our ultimate hybrid system in an iconic planetarium in Asia!

We are delighted to have installed a powerful digital system, using 6 x 4K high contrast projectors,  hybridized with our starball in the impressive 26.5m dome of Osaka Science Museum in Japan, the successor of Asia’s very first science museum and planetarium that had opened back in 1937 as part of Osaka City Electricity Science Museum.

We brought together cutting-edge technologies in this historical planetarium: 6 x 4K 10 000 lumens VPL-GTZ380 Sony projectors along with our software SkyExplorer, totally synchronized with our starball Konica Minolta Planetarium Infinium Σ.

Visitors will live a mesmerizing immersive experience thanks to the most innovative technologies brought together in this impressive and legendary planetarium!

We installed in the impressive 26.5m dome 6 x 4K VPL-GTZ380 Sony projectors and our software SkyExplorer, totally synchronized with our Infinium Σ starball, to offer spectacular journeys through the Universe, along with the most stunning, realistic and educational night sky observations.

By combining Sony’s projectors and our powerful software SkyExplorer, the highest image quality and rendering were achieved with the finest level of pixel, offering stunning and realistic images in real time. Sony’s VPL-GTZ380 projectors reach 10 000 lumens through a laser light source, achieve very high levels of contrasts thanks to the SXRD 4K panels, and offer rich colors reproducing 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut without losing any brightness.

To achieve the most magnificent night sky renderings, SkyExplorer is totally synchronized with our starball Infinium Σ. Our innovative starball offers the closest rendering to a natural sky thanks to its cutting-edge projection mechanism that reproduces the realistic gradation of the night sky and thanks to its high-luminance LED light source that projects the brightest twinkling stars. Combined with SkyExplorer’s great didactic tools and night sky rendering generated using Gaia DR2 catalog, planetarium operators and the audience can visualize the most stunning and scientifically accurate night sky.

As Mr Yoshiya Watanabe, Chief of the Osaka Science Museum, writes «SkyExplorer’s advanced and accurate simulation capabilities allow us to show astronomical objects from various angles, near or far, and introduce their characteristics. SkyExplorer and the optical system, with high reproducibility of star brilliance, work perfectly together. The sunset scene that invites us into the night at the planetarium shows beautiful and realistic changes in the ground scenery, the sunset clouds, and the appearance of the first star. This is a big difference from the results we had previously, a legitimate succession of the 100-year-old planetarium concept of wanting to reproduce the starry sky. Visitors’ information and experiences about the universe are thus enriched, with planetarium sessions embodying the fun and wonder of seeing the universe with the eyes of science, and the joy of being able to think like scientists. Thus, fulfilling our mission of “promoting the culture to enjoy science”».

Visitors will be able to live a wonderful scientific experience in the planetarium and also throughout the entire museum thanks to the highly interactive and educational facilities dedicated to space and energy!

Discover more about the Osaka Science Museum and the fantastic planetarium on their website.