Abstract
JAMES R. BENFORD has given a description of a Bausch and Lomb artificial star projector recently installed at the United States Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., which overcomes many of the difficulties of star charts (Sky and Telescope, November 1942). The instrument is located in the centre of a hemispherical dome upon which it projects images corresponding to 145 navigational stars. The instructor and the students sit inside the dome at a level a little below that of the star projector, which makes the stars appear in the darkened room as points of light in a twilight sky. As the projector rotates on its axis once in 20 minutes, the stars swing slowly across the face of the dome in this time, and students are able to gain true impressions of the form, location, and interrelations of the constellations much more clearly than they can from star charts. The apparatus supplies the nearest approach to the actual study of the heavens from outdoor instruction. The latter is not always a satisfactory method when large groups of students have to be considered, and in addition, weather conditions and the season of the year are disturbing factors. The star projector is a most important adjunct to-day in pilot training when speed is so essential.
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New Projector for Navigational Stars. Nature 151, 192–193 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151192c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151192c0