Space museum of Hong Kong
This planetarium (天文館) is the first in the world that possesses a fully automatic control system of space shows(太空電影), and the first OminMax film (全天域電影) projector in the eastern hemisphere.
The first space theatre of course is in the US. hemisphere. The lens of this projector is made in the Zeiss of Germany It was opened in 1980; the outlook is famous for the half egg-shell like dome. When you walk along the Star Avenue, it is easy to catch sight of the dome, and some people even said that it’s similar to a tomb. The idea is that it represents the universe and when you get inside, you can have a glance of our universe. So there’s water surrounding the dome, just to show the planets are floating in the universe.
Actually the Space Museum is divided into two main portions, the exhibition hall and the space theatre. The exhibition hall is the same as other museums in Hong Kong, will be free of charge on every Wednesday, while for other days you still have to pay the entrance fee. But for the space theatre, you have to buy tickets no matter in what days. Mind that this museum is different from the Science Museum that I shown to students in the internship. The Science Museum shows everything made by people down on earth, and over 80% of the exhibits can be operated. The Space museum shows every made by God up above the sky, and the core is in the space theatre showing non-commercial Omnimax and Sky Shows through the projector below.
Recently, there a hot trend of IMAX cinema shows, it’s not the same as this. IMAX means Image Maximum and is suitable for 3D movie like Avatar, and I will talk about it next week. This is known as Ominmax or Imax Dome (全天域電影), which is specially designed for planetariums. You can see the projector is like that of a fish eye and is put in the middle of the space theatre. When you get inside, you will sit on a chair of greater clinging angle like that of attending the dentist. The screen actually is the roof of the dome, so what you are watching is similar to that of watching the night sky above. But one thing is very different, your head will be very busy, for everything is moving not only directly above you, but in the front and back, left and right, so you have to turn your head around all the way. Some people would say even have the sense of sea-sickness（暈船浪), but don’t worry, its just a boasting description.
The films are changing all the way, actually they are divided into sky show(太空電影) and Omninax show (全域琙電影). The former of course is an educational film talking about the universe in every aspect, the latter is a non-commercial entertainment film. It would show various topics like the dinosaur, pyramid (金字塔) or jet fighters (戰鬥機).They all have special effects when view in the IMAX dome which is different from sitting straight and view in the IMAX theatre.
Due to the cost of production, each film would not be so long, about 30 to 40 minutes only. As you know, I normally would lead students to some unique places or locations that few people would go to. This is one of the places I strongly recommended. Don’t just go for 3D movie or karaoke, there’s still a lot of places worthwhile going after your studies.
This article also appears in my other blog of http://xiaonei.com/danielyue2009 and normally will be renewed on Saturday evening.
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