Some inspiration-Planetarium projectors!

[Andrew Gorman]

Or deep space probes, system defense batteries, cosmic listening posts, what have you. I was always amazed at these things in the ancient long ago and am glad to see some preserved!
http://www.planetariummuseum.org/

[Bellerophon]

The last few times I went to a planetarium (Hayden, Fels, and NJ State Museum), those traditional projectors had been replaced by a system that has a serious flaw. Brighter stars are merely larger. Ugh.

The Fels planetarium especially had a neat projector originally. It used slides of the night sky (with no planets in them, of course), so the projected image was a mosaic of the actual night sky.

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Yeah, but they can be a pain when you have to battle one.
So many lenses from which they can fire.

Vividred
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8375 ... 1804_b.jpg
http://www.japanator.com/ul/27694-/04-620x.jpg

[SpaceRanger1]

When I was in college, I helped install a Spitz A-1 (the dodecahedron-shaped model) at the new Wichita Falls Museum and Arts Center, Wichita Falls, TX. It turned out to be a used item, purchased from the Fort Worth Children's Museum, where 10 years previously I had taken a summer astronomy course that used that same projector!

The Museum later upgraded to a newer Spitz projector but kept parts of the old one on display. However, it has subsequently been purchased by Midwestern State University and the planetarium closed. Bummer.