This is the ultimate ultra-precise star plate that projects more than one billion stars, the world’s largest number of projected fixed stars in opto-mechanical planetariums. New orders can of course be placed, but it is also possible to upgrade MEGASTAR-IIA or higher models with GIGAMASK.
GIGAMASK was developed in collaboration with Sony DADC Japan Inc. that is now Sony Music Solutions Inc.
It brings together Ohira Tech’s planetarium technology and star catalogues processing technology with Sony DADC Japan’s ultra-precision patterning technology. By using Sony DADC Japan’s high-capacity, high-density optical disc mastering technology as typified by Blu-ray discs, Sony DADC Japan has succeeded in developing the world’s smallest ultra-fine hole processing technology with a diameter of 180 nm (180 nanometres = 18/100,000 mm). This enables accurate reproduction of faint stars from 1st magnitude up to 20th magnitude, and the latest number of stars projected onto the entire sky is approximately 1.2 billion.
The stars projected by MEGASTAR-IIA equipped with GIGAMASK installed at Hamagin Space Science Center was recognised by Guinness World Records as “Most stars projected by a planetarium projector (one off)”.
In 1998, Ohira Tech presented the optical planetarium projector MEGASTAR-I with 1.7 million fixed stars (presented in its unfinished state with 1.5 million stars), which was more than 100 times compared to conventional projectors *¹. It was the world’s first artificial starry sky to reach the ‘mega’ realm. In 2004, the MEGASTAR-II cosmos, with 5.6 million fixed stars, installed at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), was certified in Guinness World Records, thus pioneering the cutting edge of planetarium technology. This time, by achieving the ‘Giga’ realm, it will once again rewrite the history of planetariums.
*¹ Ohira Tech was established in 2005, while 1998 was due to the personal development of Takayuki Ohira before the establishment of the corporation.
