Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

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chrisyeo
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Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by chrisyeo »

Hi guys!

Long time no see. Over the weekend I chanced upon the Gakkan Realstar Planetarium at Taka Kinokuniya, and for slightly less than $50 (20% disc.), it really exceeded my expectations.

It's a self-assembly kit with a separate brochure with English instructions. Took some effort to assemble (90mins+) but well worth it. This is the new version apparently.

It's a pinhole projection using a micro filament bulb, and somehow manages to recreate the night sky and Milky Way with complete accuracy in my bedroom. Wow. Long time since I've been to Mersing but brought back lots of memories. Do check it out for those interested, and highly recommended for beginners to learn the stars too.


http://www.japantrendshop.com/gakken-re ... -2063.html
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VinSnr
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by VinSnr »

chrisyeo wrote:Hi guys!

Long time no see. Over the weekend I chanced upon the Gakkan Realstar Planetarium at Taka Kinokuniya, and for slightly less than $50 (20% disc.), it really exceeded my expectations.

It's a self-assembly kit with a separate brochure with English instructions. Took some effort to assemble (90mins+) but well worth it. This is the new version apparently.

It's a pinhole projection using a micro filament bulb, and somehow manages to recreate the night sky and Milky Way with complete accuracy in my bedroom. Wow. Long time since I've been to Mersing but brought back lots of memories. Do check it out for those interested, and highly recommended for beginners to learn the stars too.


http://www.japantrendshop.com/gakken-re ... -2063.html
Need to do soldering?

Pretty nice I must say....
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chrisyeo
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by chrisyeo »

No need to solder. Just simple screws and lots of taping.
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Gary
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by Gary »

Hi Chris, thanks for the reminder. Heard about this promo from a friend shortly before CNY. Finally manage to find the time to drop by yesterday afternoon.

Bought 1 set to test it out at home and hopefully can find time to do a proper review of it.

For those who are anxious and can't wait to read more local reviews, I highly suggest you go into the demo booth and have a first-hand experience of the planetarium BEFORE you buy.

These are some of early impressions so far base on the demo inside the booth (self-service, not guided by any promoter):

- The booth is small (at most 3 adults inside). Maybe due to space constraint in Kinokuniya. As a result, one may not know how bright or how far the projection will be in a bigger room.
- The demo set is positioned on a table. Not on the ground. Some of the marketing imagery show the planetarium on the ground and still projecting a bright image around the whole room.
- The projector dome is created by joining pieces of pentagons. At the edges where join, they form a dark border/line. This lines of darkness is also "projected" on the walls among the stars. Some may not like this as it may destroy the illusion a border-less night sky of stars as implied in the imagery used in the printed marketing materials. If the edges are not joined properly, a line of light will be projected on the wall.
- The walls of the booth are painted white. Not sure how well the stars will look like when projected on non-white walls which some users may have in their home internal decoration.
- The moving stars mode is cool! IIRC, about 15 mins for one complete revolution. To prove that the projected stars are indeed moving, place your fingertip on one bright projected star and observe the star slowly moving away from your fingertip.

Things to do when you are inside the booth:

- Don't get too many of your friends inside as the stars will be projected on them instead of wall. Best is do it solo. You can lock the room from inside.
- Close the door when you are inside because you want it to dark. It's obvious to us amateur astronomers but not so to some members of the public. And remember there is no promoter around to guide anyone, only printed instructions inside the room near the projector and the English manuals at the table near the booth.
- The planetarium may be auto switched off (30 mins timer). So don't be surprised if it is so dark you can't even see the on/off switch when you close the door.
- The on/off switch is located at the base of the projector. Press once to turn it on. Press it twice to make the projector rotate slowly.
- You can tilt and rotate the projector on its moveable axis. Be gentle. Don't break the demo unit and spoil the fun for others. :)
- Have fun testing your knowledge of the constellations and stars and try to identify them on the wall!

Other misc info:
- The promotion cum demo booth is from 27th January - 27th February 2014 at Kinokuniya Takashimaya.
- The projector is powered by 2 type "C" batteries.
- After you have purchased it, go to the Chinese/Japanese information counter and get the manual in English. Copies of this manual may also be located on the table near the demo booth.
- The price per unit is $47.36 after 20% promotional discount of the original $59.20. This discount is for all buyers, not a special discount for Kinokuniya members only.
- The package includes a scientific magazine in Japanese with nice backcover ad of Vixen telescopes. :)
- As of yesterday afternoon after I bought my set, there are still roughly 25 units available at the promotional booth. There may be more in their warehouse or in the astronomy-section bookshelves.

Some photos:

Image

Image

As you see from my initial impressions, I am not extremely impressed, at least not yet. But I still bought it because:
- The price is not too steep at $47 compared the $300+ price tag of other home planetarium packages.
- Fixing the planetarium is part of the fun too!
- A show of support for Kinokuniya for stocking some of the best astronomy/stargazing books/magazines in Singapore for many years.
- A small act of appreciation to the creator(s) for making an accurate planetarium instead of just projecting random dots of lights as stars and constellations.

Looking forward to slowly unboxing my set and enjoying the process of constructing the planetarium. Hopefully, the more talented modders can make a stronger and brighter internal lighting modification. :)
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chrisyeo
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by chrisyeo »

Hi Gary - nice "pre"-review!

Forgot to mention about the demo box! Just some comments to add:

- the joints between the pentagons are barely perceptible if constructed and bent upwards properly, and only in the densest part of the Milky Way, so nothing to worry about.
- as one end of the projection is necessarily taken up by the base, you can construct it to show the northern or southern stars. It doesn't matter because we are on the equator, but I chose to show the south because I get to see the LMC and SMC and the Southern Cross.
- although it asks for C batteries, I successfully am using AA batteries as they fit and stay in place and are the same voltage.
- when constructing the 'globe', you have to pre-bend all the edges in and out (at least six time). The outside is covered with a protective sheet so it becomes obvious which is which once you bend the edges.
- to me the effect at home is even better than the demo box! Not sure it's because of the battery strength, or light seeping in, or the expansive feeling.. In fact, it can be TOO bright and we enjoyed having weak batteries which replicated the dark adaptation required and the actual brightness of stars more accurately. :). Have fun building it and let us know what you think!
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VinSnr
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by VinSnr »

Gary,

Impressive pre-review of the unit! Even with pics of the demo booth. Really no horse run in the year of the horse!

I like the fact that you bought in order to support Kino.

Great post!
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antares2063
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by antares2063 »

Looks cool ! thanks for sharing about this item. =)

regards,
Junwei
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acc
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by acc »

Ya thanks Chris and Gary for sharing. Will go check it out.
We do it in the dark...
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Airconvent
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by Airconvent »

I saw this a month ago and was attracted to it because of the astronomy theme but gave up because I did not understand what the words mean. So its the planetarium that Chris talked about.
Thanks for the detailed review, Gary! I bought some cheap card type some years back but that was almost a complete failure. I think this one may not disappoint! :)
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Mariner
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Re: Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

Post by Mariner »

Not to worry about the stocks. Plenty of it littered all around the store if you know where to look. They even placed one copy at the Astro section.

I bought one yesterday and spent quite a bit of time fixing it up. The motor part is quite fast although I have a beef with the wires being pressed hard against the bottom when you screw in the circuit board. The pain comes with the "plates" themselves. More care and effort have to be spent there to get them to stick together accurately. Plus the English instruction sheet had an error in that the boxed instructions (page 37) are meant for Southern skies but one of the boxes said "Northern" and I ended up slightly confused by that.

I have yet to peel off the plastic protection sheets and seal up some of the loose openings but prelim results were quite nice. Giving it to my wife once done for her birthday.

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