Adler Planetarium,
founded in 1930, was the first planetarium in the western hemisphere, and is
a US national monument. Until recently, the planetarium was run with a
Zeiss Projector (
Mark IV) that was
around 40 years old. The proposed upgrade was
controversial in the 2008 presidential elections, as $3 million in federal funding was earmarked for the $14 million project. In the end, the high-tech projection system was funded. The result:
the world's most advanced planetarium system, with a 64 megapixel resolution display, provided by 20 individually modified projectors, 42
GPUs and run with the help of 84 servers. And it can be
controlled from an iPad or
X-Box controller.
posted by filthy light thief
on Jul 12, 2011 -
30 comments
