The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : They do it with mirrors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

They do it with mirrors

M. Raghuram

Bangalore planetarium has installed a ‘Mirror Dome Projection Unit’

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Standing tall: A bird’s eye view of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium on Raj Bhavan Road in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: True to its famed scientific temper, Bangalore is striving to ensure that its scientific institutions are comparable to the best in the country. The Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium has installed the latest Mirror Dome Projection Unit, which is the smallest available projection system known to science in planetarium projection equipment.

Planetarium director C.S. Shukre told The Hindu that the unit was imported from Australia and is quite simple. A convex mirror and a projector create the star field effect, while the rest of the visuals are handled by software specially developed for the purpose. The Swinburne University Planetarium in Australia has put this technology to use successfully.

This is the first time that the equipment has been installed in India, says Prof. Shukre. The planetarium, which is managed by the Bangalore Association for Scientific Education, already has the biggest dome in the country and the new equipment will give it an extra edge.

Technologies

Unlike the preceding technologies that were mainly opto-mechanical, the Mirror Dome Technology (MDT) creates one large visual field, explains Assistant Director of the planetarium Pramod G. Galgali. The original visual in its raw form will be distorted because of the convex mirror that is used to beam it across the dome. But this is corrected by the MDT through a technique called pre-distortion carried out with the help of software. In the opto-mechanical system on the other hand, multiple projectors beam different fields of images that later correlated into one image.

Both these technologies have their advantages, according to Mr. Galgali. The planetarium has decided to keep both the systems operational and use them alternately. The cost of the new system is Rs. 10 lakh.

Administrator of the facility H.S. Jagadeesh says the planetarium now has a two-show itinerary: the ‘Classical Sky Show’, which uses the Skymaster Optomechanical system, and the ‘Mirror Dome Sky Show’, which uses the new technology.

The planetarium has also acquired the new ‘Hubble Vision’ show from the American producer Loch Ness Productions.

Mr. Jagadeesh says these 30-minute programmes showcase the images captured by the Hubble space telescope 575 km above the earth’s surface. These stunning images take the viewer on a fascinating tour of the cosmos.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka