GOTO INC President, Nobutaka Goto was pleased to attend the inauguration of the newly renovated Sapporo Science Center planetarium on April 14, 2016. The CHIRON III projector is the third GOTO opto-mechanical projector which Sapporo has chosen since it’s opening in 1981. So GOTO INC is now very proud to have installed the CHIRON III HYBRID system, GOTO’s finest, in their dome.

This system synchronizes the beautiful CHIRON III projector with GOTO’s VIRTUARIUM X fulldome digital system, to make the finest sky, and also a dynamic, colorful, animated experience.

Feature

The CHIRON III has features such as an independently dimmable Milky Way made up of 100,000,000 micro-stars. It is the first projector in the world which can group 9,500 stars (down to magnitude 6.55) by color temperature, to show the diverse family of stars surrounding us. The CHIRON III sky is bright, colorful, fast-moving, and accurate.
But the CHIRON III isn’t the end of the story. The VIRTUARIUM X fulldome digital system supplies additional sky enhancements such as coordinate lines, constellation outlines, comets, eclipses, and many more images. At Sapporo, the VIRTUARIUM X is even loaded with panoramic images of the 202 local schools in Sapporo City. So students will feel like they are in the familiar surroundings back at school for easy orientation to the night sky. When they go back home, the night sky overhead will “fit” their mental image given to them at the planetarium.

Details

Further features of the Sapporo CHIRON III HYBRID installation:

• Much smaller starball – only 480mm in diameter – 20% smaller than their previous Model URANUS projector
• Over 300 nebulae and clusters and more than 200 dark nebulae are shown
• Smallest star images of any previous projector
• Integral starball lift requires no additional footprint space
• Two high-resolution 4K video projectors are used for the fulldome video images
• School exterior images and sight-seeing images of Sapporo are included
• Original planetarium programs include “The Little Prince & the Star of Wish(es)” by SORA, a local author/illustrator.
• Smaller central equipment allowed renovation of the room, stage, and seats to allow more user-friendly aisles and wider seat spacing
• New LED dome and footlight illumination for safety and high performance
• Induction hearing loops with T-mode for hearing impaired visitors

About Sapporo Science Center

Sapporo Science Center opened in 1981 to support a more creative young generation. Its original planetarium projector was a GOTO Model GN-AT, followed by a Model URANUS, and now, the CHIRON III. The planetarium has an 18-meter horizontal dome. Original exhibitions at the center include an artificial snow machine and low temperature exhibition room, as well as a hands on workshop which enables visitors to get to know science with the help of citizens of Sapporo.

2-20, 5 Chome, Atsubetsu Chuoh 1jyo, Atubetsu-ku, Sapporo City, 004-0051 Hokkaido
http://www.ssc.slp.or.jp/

Children’s book author SORA

SORA is an author living in Hokkaido who is also an illustrator, painter, and developer of mascot characters for private companies. She has applied her talents to sightseeing locations and the creation of a picture book using her alter-ego “SORO” as a leading character. She also does children’s book readings and live paintings and lectures via television and radio. http://www.sora-office.com/

About GOTO INC

GOTO INC is a Tokyo-based company which is a world leader in planetarium production, as well as manufacturer of astronomical telescopes. With well over 1,000 installations of opto-mechanical planetarium projectors around the world, GOTO also produces fulldome video movies with a wide variety of subjects.

In 2004, GOTO INC was first to create a planetarium which synchronized both opto-mechanical and fulldome, color, real-time video into a single HYBRID system. Today, more than 50 GOTO HYBRID Planetariums® have been installed in Japan, Germany, USA, Czech Republic, India, and around the world. GOTO INC stands ready to create wonderful sky experiences in domes from 8 to 50 meters in diameter.

(GOTO HYBRID Planetarium® is the registered trademark of GOTO INC for domestic sales in Japan.)