September 29, 2016—The Denver Museum of Nature & Science celebrated the grand re-opening of the Gates Planetarium on September 19. The Planetarium temporarily closed earlier this month to install upgraded projection equipment, making the experience sharper and more vibrant.
Evans & Sutherland (E&S) installed an 8-channel Digistar system connected to eight Barco F35 2560 x 1600 resolution projectors with E&S’ proprietary auto alignment and auto blending systems. This stunning, full dome display boasts well over 20 million unique pixels.
"The E&S team did a fantastic job with the Digistar system design, integration and installation," Dan Neafus, manager of the Gates Planetarium at the Museum said, "The projectors slotted right into the planned locations, and the Digistar auto align and blending system performed as expected creating a beautiful, seamless image. We were amazed to see how quickly and easily it aligned and blended the images from the eight projectors."
Museum Technology Operations Director Eric Boen said, "When we watched our show Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity on the new system we were thrilled. We saw way more detail on our dome than we had ever seen before."
"Dan and his team at the Museum had a solid creative and technical vision for how they wanted to be able to use their new system," Kirk Johnson, E&S President and COO said. "They wanted a reliable system that would be easy to maintain, and offer flexibility of content sources with rock-solid performance. We are delighted that they trusted this design to our team and our Digistar system. We couldn’t be more pleased that our partnership resulted in a beautiful, versatile and high performance digital dome solution for their theater."
The Gates Planetarium is a cornerstone of the Museum, serving over 170,000 visitors per year, and offering a wide range of public programming, including a live version of Adler Planetarium’s Destination Solar System and evening lectures such as Digital Earth and 60 Minutes In Space.
About the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is the Rocky Mountain Region’s leading resource for informal science education. Our mission is to be a catalyst and ignite the community’s passion for nature and science. The Museum envisions an empowered community that loves, understands, and protects our natural world. As such, a variety of engaging exhibits, discussions, and activities help Museum visitors celebrate and understand the wonders of Colorado, Earth, and the universe. The Museum is located at 2001 Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO, 80205. To learn more about the Museum, visit dmns.org or call 303-370-6000. Many of the Museum’s educational programs and exhibits are made possible in part by the citizens of the seven-county metro area through the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District. Connect with the Museum on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
About Evans & Sutherland
Evans & Sutherland (www.es.com) provides Digistar 6, the world's most advanced digital fulldome planetarium and digital dome cinema system, ideal for replacing 1570 film systems. Digistar 6 combines fulldome video playback in 2D and 3D with the most comprehensive real time 3D digital astronomy package ever assembled, all within a powerful easy-to-use graphical user interface that makes creating shows more intuitive than ever. The unique capabilities of the system, the Digistar Cloud Library (a resource for community content sharing), Domecasting (live broadcasting to planetariums), Show Builder (a powerful and intuitive way to build shows), the Digistar STEAM library (included content for science, technology, engineering, art, and math), and Ease of Use, combine to provide unequalled capabilities for immersive dome experiences. Evans & Sutherland is also the world's leading producer and distributor of digital fulldome shows including show converted from giant screen film. As a full-service system provider, E&S also offers Spitz domes, SciDome, hybrid planetarium systems and a full range of theater systems. E&S markets include planetariums, science centers, themed attraction venues, and premium large-format theaters. E&S products have been installed in over 1,300 theaters worldwide. Visit the E&S website at http://www.es.com.
Source: Evans & Sutherland