| The Dusty Shelf HPA has exclusive archives for one of a kind old and home built planetarium assets! HPA collects lectures, thesis, articles, and all related history from the pioneers of home planetariums, write for list! |
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| The categories of Home Planetariums 1. Home scratch built (see gares projectors at left) 2. Restore old commercial units (see the museum) 3. Hybrids - combo commercial/home built 4. Sophisticated modern toys (Homestar, Spitz Jr on Ebay) 5. Stellarium Computer Video Projection (google it) 6. ??? what have YOU done! |
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| Star Party Planetarium! |
| DRILL BIT TABLE mag hole size bit number 0-1 .076 - .089 48 - 45 1-0 .046 - .063 57 - 55 2-1 .040 - .033 68 - 60 3-2 .028 - .025 71 - 70 4-3 .0225 - .020 76 - 72 5 .0125 80 |
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| The Home Planetarium Association |
| Yes, you need one at YOUR house! worlds coolest homemade projector |
| The Home Planetarium Association (HPA) is the worlds first organized group of Home Planetarium builders, collectors, and enthusiasts! Founded in the mid 90s, HPA helps keep the dream alive of having your own star theater at home through a combination of how tos, networking, and archiving. But HPA is also a right brain celebration of the emotions and passions of planetariums everywhere. A newsletter celebrating all of us is periodically available. Welcome! |
| Check this out, online posting board (see planetariums as a hobby section) |
| Check this out, Planetarium Museum! |
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| The Steve Smith 20 Inch Drum (Sumner Skies HPA Theatere) |
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| HPA Emmons Starball - made by Richard Emmons, the father of home planetaria. Projector donated to the Planetarium Museum (Owen Phairis), where it is in the company of classics !! |
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| How to Build A Planetarium? 1. Get a globe at least 12 inches in diameter (avoid cardboard globes, plastic or metal is good) 2. Mount a flashlight bulb or small LED light in the center of the globe such that it can turn on its axis, either by hand or motorized. 2.47 Volts is good 3. Paint the globe and plot major constellations onto it using starmaps, starglobes etc.. Use the table below for star pinhole sizes corresponding to magniftudes 4. Drill out the starholes.. holes must be well defined and point at the light source. They will be tiny! 5. Mount the globe assembly as you see fit and put in the center of a darkened room, or build a dome! 6. Stars are faint - make sure your eyes are dark adapted for several minutes 7. Domes can be cardboard, paper, wooden, cloth, you name it has been used! |
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| The Famous Spitz A1/A2 Dodec - this is an example of a 'hybrid' planetarium - an old commercial star globe on a new mounting. Originally from a Spitz A2, which is on display at HPAs visitor center. |
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| Lense your Stars The 9mm by 265mm lense sold by Anchor Optics is currently the best lense for pinhole stars, provide these for at least your 1st magntitudes for best results! |
| Sunset Effect at HPAs Sumner Skies Planetarium, a 15 foot domed theater |
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| Rare Spitz Sky Zoo - Commercial 'toy' projectors both past and present can be used to great effect, especially if you enhance them ! |
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| HPAs School Projector! Only two have been built and one is 'lost' at a museum that went under . Instead of drilling a globe directly, I needled vinyl starplates, allowing use of cheap cardboard globes |
| DOMES Most home planetarians first just use the darkened ceiling of their bedroom or basement. Domes however can be built with 1. Cardboard 2. Cloth 3. Parachutes 4. Curved thin paneling (HPAs) 5. Geodesic 6. Vinyl 7. Metal This is most difficult - HPA started with a 9 foot and currently employs a 15 foot which took a year to build. More info coming soon on dome construction. |
| HPA is a loose association which has produced 19 newsletters. The first 17 are available on CD - 18 and 19 on paper - we will be glad to send copies. They are a mixture of how to, bios, and dreams.. essays such as you will find on HPAs blog. Because emotion, wonder, memory... they all meet with home planetariums! |
| yes, you need one at your house! |
| Now Set Sail |
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| collect other toys! |
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| How Many Stars? Mag Number -27 1 (the sun) 1 20 2 58 3 82 4 530 5 1600 6 4800 |
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| Sign Guestbook for mo info! Thanks! |
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| All my life I had dreamed of it, but it was absurd. Nobody had the stars in their backyard.. their basement... their barn. But people do. Now I do too .. And so can YOU. Dream.. Dream BIG |