Most Isolated City in the World Opens Fulldome Theatre

Nashua, NH, USA – 5th April, 2004

Horizon – The Planetarium was launched today by the Premier of Western Australia and Minister for Science, The Honourable Dr. Geoff Gallop. Situated in Perth, Australia, this theatre features Sky-Skan’s SkyVision High-Definition Video and DigitalSky Real-Time systems.

As part of the Scitech Discovery Centre, Horizon brings informal astronomy education to Perth for the first time. “Scitech’s success has been built on using the latest technology and ideas to transform the way people experience the world - and view their place in it,” said Dr. Gallop when he announced funding for the project.

“Scitech is a very dynamic, technically astute organization, known throughout the world for successful traveling exhibitions,” Sky-Skan President Steve Savage said today. “We’re so proud they chose the very latest Sky-Skan equipment for their new theatre.”

Mr. Alan Brien, CEO of Scitech commented, “Scitech is now the premiere institution dealing with public astronomy education in Western Australia. We are committed to presenting the highest quality productions to our audiences. Our need for unwavering quality control over theatre brightness, projection integrity and crispness of images has been exceeded by Sky-Skan.”

Using 6 projection channels, SkyVision technology fills the dome screen with seamless, high-resolution digital video graphics and computer animations, allowing the theatre to present world-class productions including “Infinity Express” and “MARS.”

Horizon is housed in a 30-degree tilted 18-meter dome. With 197 seats, it is the largest Planetarium in Australasia. “There was a closed Omnimax theatre within Scitech’s precinct so incorporating Sky-Skan’s technology to re-open and revitalize this city venue was a perfect fit,” Mr. Savage said. “It is the second theatre in the Southern Hemisphere to install Sky-Skan’s fulldome projection systems - and our most remote! Sky-Skan systems are steadily moving out to the four corners of the Earth.”

“Scitech’s application of the real-time system is a wonderful leap forward for planetaria around the world,” Mr. Savage said. In addition to the shows “Infinity Express” and “Mars,” the theatre will also present existing Australian productions converted to the real-time DigitalSky system. “Perth is leading the way in the standardisation of Australian digital planetarium productions by taking two of the excellent, but conventional multimedia shows from the Melbourne Planetarium and importing them into the new era of digital dome theatre,” Mr. Savage said. “Sky-Skan is proud to have been able to provide the technological and programming expertise to make this digital show sharing a reality for these organizations.”

DigitalSky provides a stunningly realistic starfield with full textured graphics capability, calculated and rendered in real-time, using standard PC technology. The user interface permits the operator to drive all the typical planetarium features and functions, plus a host of new ones developed specifically for its real-time 3D environment. The software architecture permits complex sequences to be controlled by external SMPTE time code, activated by a mouse click, or via a joystick used to fly through the system’s 3D digital universe.

“History has shown that theatres that employ new technologies have an audience experience that is marketable way beyond the traditional planetarium. The strength of the playlist at Horizon will be a remarkable way to introduce 21st century astronomy to the people of Western Australia,” Mr. Savage said.

Sky-Skan’s DigitalSky and High-Definition SkyVision are the same systems recently installed at the Cosmic Skydome in Brisbane Australia, the new Eugenides Foundation Planetarium in Athens and aboard the luxury liner the Queen Mary 2. Sky-Skan’s SPICE Automation keeps the visualisations and sound effortlessly under control, providing simple, on demand access to the systems. Horizon at Scitech will be Sky-Skan’s 29th permanent SkyVision installation and the 9th theatre in the world to install the state-of-the-art DigitalSky system.

For further information:

Steven Savage, President Sky-Skan, Inc., 51 Lake Street, Nashua, NH, USA e: office@skyskan.com p: +1 603 880 8500.
Jack White, Director Sky-Skan Australia, 441 Spencer Street, West Melbourne, VIC, Australia e: white@skyskan.comp: +61 3 9329 5501
Glenn Smith, Director Sky-Skan Europe, Museumsinsel 1, D-80538 Munich, Germany e: smith@skyskan.com p: +49 89 6428 9231

Information on SkyVision, DigitalSky and Sky-Skan, Inc. may be found on the Internet at www.skyskan.com.
Information on Horizon at Scitech may be found on the Internet at www.scitech.org.au/visit/planetarium.html

About Sky-Skan

For over 35 years, Sky-Skan has been the world's leading provider of media technologies and facility design for domed theaters. Sky-Skan's products and services include their trademark SPICE Automation Show Control System, SkyVision fulldome video projection and DigitalSky digital planetarium systems, as well as complete turn-key facility design and construction management services.

There are over two dozen permanent SkyVision installations completed to date and over 250 SPICE Theater Automation systems installed in planetaria, large format film theaters, domed media theaters, museums and science centers around the world.

Sky-Skan is the only planetarium equipment supplier to maintain sales, production facilities and technical support services in Australia. Its other sales, production and technical offices are located in Nashua, NH, USA and Munich, Germany.