Technical Characteristics

The New Digital Planetarium has 278 seats, all equipped with interactive controls. The aisles were designed with ample space to ensure that the audience is comfortable. Each seat has a head rest and is inclined according to where it is positioned within the amphitheatre.

The Planetarium has the following projection systems:

Digital Star Projection Systems (Digital fulldome)

The New Digital Planetarium has two state-of-the-art digital fulldome systems, the Sky-Skan DigitalSky2 system and the Evans & Sutherland Digistar system.

These new systems are able to project tens of thousands of stars, as they can be seen from any point on Earth or our solar system, as well as any star at a distance shorter than a hundred light years from Earth.

The audience is given the illusion that they enter a space and time machine that takes them on fascinating journeys within the Milky Way and beyond, across our 100 billion galaxy Universe.

All digital productions are projected on the dome using the six-channel Barco F90 projection system. The F90 is the third generation of digital projectors that have been installed in the Planetarium. They are laser-phosphorus projectors – a new technology that significantly improves the quality of the image.

All projection systems are fully guided by the Spice Automation Suite, which is able to control all pre-programmed elements of a show and regulate all systems through a central computer.

The automation suite also controls the new 40,000 W, seven-channel SS 6.1 Digital Surround Sound System, which carries the music and narration of the shows around the amphitheatre with the help of 44 speakers.

Through the use of these new systems, the visitors leave the Planetarium’s shows amazed by the sensation of watching something in a large dome, while also gaining new insights as a result of their experience.

An IWERKS 15/70 giant screen film projection system

The Eugenides Foundation New Digital Planetarium’s equipment incorporates the newest technologies for audio-visual shows. It harmoniously combines modern digital technology with the analogue presentation of giant format films.

Thanks to the installation of the IWERKS and CDC giant screen film projection system, the costly international productions of giant screen films can be shown in Greece as well. The projection system can be used to show 15/70 movies (70 mm film, 15 perforations per frame) that have a resolution ten times greater than those shown in conventional cinemas.

These movies transport the audience all around our planet and beyond – doing so in a way that is more realistic than ever before. The clarity and brightness of the display, as well as the large size of the screen, create the illusion that the viewers are actually there.

In this way, the audience become vicarious explorers, as they are transported, for example, to the rim of a Hawaiian volcano, the peak of Mount Everest, the Great Barrier Reef or for a walk through space and on the Moon.