This coming July the Adler Planetarium in Chicago will unveil a new, immersive space experience that will take visitors into the depths of space in unprecedented detail. The new Grainger Sky Theater will enable visitors to experience space travel in a way that can only be matched by the real world.
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The Grainger Sky Theater is set to project the largest single seamless image in the world with an ultra high definition screen resolution of more than 8k x 8k pixels (or the equivalent of an 64 MegaPixel image), far surpassing the cinematic standard of 2k x 4k pixels, and revealing planets, stars, galaxies, and other celestial objects in the highest resolution possible to date.
The on-screen imagery will expand beyond the traditional 180-degree dome and surround the visitor. Special lighting effects in the floor complete the 360-degree experience. However, the Adler Planetarium press release did not mention whether the new Grainger Sky Theater will also include special effects built into the floor and chairs at the Planetarium like other advanced Planetariums around the world.
“The theater technology and computational power used to store and access celestial images differentiates Deep Space Adventure from anything out there,” said Doug Roberts, PhD, Adler associate vice president for digital technology and project director for the new Grainger Sky Theater. “Using 20 separate projectors – powered by 45 computers – to create one seamless image is unprecedented. With the ability to create and present scientific data using images that are as good as the human eye can perceive, Adler visitors can explore deep space as if they were there.”
TFOT already covered the Neave Planetarium as well as the Stellarium – the Free Planetarium in 2008.
More information can be found in the Adler Planetarium press release.
