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| Carl Zeiss demonstrated powerdomeŽVELVET in Jena's "Long Night of the Sciences" |
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First public viewing
The first prototypes of the new VELVET projectors developed and built by Carl Zeiss were demonstrated to the professional community at the IPS 2008 in Chicago and at the Conference of German-Language Planetariums in Mannheim. The first complete fulldome system incorporating batch-produced VELVET projectors was demonstrated by Carl Zeiss during Jena's "Long Night of the Sciences" on November 13, 2009. More than thousand visitors were delighted by the sharpness and brilliance of the imagery projected onto the dome.
VELVET offers the ultimate black
The new Carl Zeiss projector features a contrast ratio comparable to that of glass-fiber star projection. The "Black Projection Technology", an in-house development of Carl Zeiss, is based on an innovative optical design, which completely excludes scattered light, the culprit responsible for the disturbing gray background. In addition to its absolute black, VELVET also fascinates by the pin-sharp definition of its projected images and an enchanting palette of colors thanks to a color space enlarged by Texas Instruments' BrilliantColor™ technology.
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| Fulldome projection with powerdomeŽVELVET was first shown in public on November 13, 2009. |
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Enthusiastic visitors
Visitors saw a selection of fulldome sequences that highlighted the strengths of VELVET. Galaxies floated in space, and pictures seemed to extend to infinity. Space objects and live scenes imaged on the dome showed up in filigree detail.
Production started
The first projectors to go to buyers in Germany will be delivered and installed early in 2010. In March, the Wolfsburg Planetarium will reopen with powerdomeŽVELVET, followed by the Bochum Zeiss Planetarium and the planetarium of Berlin's Wilhelm Foerster Observatory.
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