New: Digitarium Mu

2024-06-25 / Karrie Berglund / News

Digitalis is proud to announce our latest ultra portable digital planetarium system model, the Digitarium Mu. With its compact size, light weight, native 4K projector component, and long-lasting laser-phosphor illumination, the Mu is poised to revolutionize the portable digital planetarium system market.

The Digitarium Mu was developed based on customer feedback and our own decades of experience doing outreach with portable planetariums. We are proud to say that the Mu is the smallest and lightest all-in-one digital planetarium system available anywhere in the world, opening up mobile planetariums to a much wider audience.

Doing mobile planetarium programs can be challenging—when you arrive to set up, you have to be ready for anything. Having a system with a quick set up time is a must for unforeseen delays, such as having to move tables and chairs to make space for the dome.

Mobile planetarium work can be physically demanding, especially when some supposedly portable systems are not what we consider portable. We estimate one competing system weighs at least 125 pounds (57 kg) when packed in its transit case! It’s no wonder that this vendor does not publish the weight and dimensions of the system.

Systems of such high weight and large size are extremely challenging to set up and break down, as well as impossible for an average person to lift without help. This forces an institution to send two people for set up and tear down, adding significantly to the cost of the program.

Meet Ultra-Portable

The Digitarium Mu addresses the above challenges and more. With a loaded wheeled transit case weight of only 53 lbs/24.1 kg, gone are the days of struggling to set up or haul the system from point A to point B. Thanks to its design, one person can easily move and set up the Mu.

All Mu components are housed in a sturdy aluminum enclosure for protection and fast set up: From the time you open the Mu transit case until the sky is projected onto the dome takes about three minutes.

Its compact size means that the Mu and a Digitalis Dome can easily fit in a small car, such as the Toyota Corolla shown here. There is no need for a van or SUV to transport the Digitarium Mu, saving you money on the initial vehicle purchase price and on gas.

Apart from that, software-based portable planetarium systems such as the Digitarium Mu enable users to take the capabilities of high-end fixed domes on the road. They offer several advantages over fixed domes:

• They are far less expensive than building a fixed-location dome.
• No dedicated building is required—simply stow the equipment in a closet when you’re not using it. Multipurpose rooms remain multipurpose.
• Portable planetarium systems are usually paired with inflatable domes, which are available in a range of diameters for different audience sizes. You can even use the same portable system in different dome sizes depending on how many people you need to seat per show.
• A portable system and inflatable dome can be used for outreach or shared across an entire school district. Bring the planetarium to the students rather than paying the high cost of busing students to the planetarium.

Additional Benefits

Despite its diminutive stature, the new Digitarium Mu offers huge benefits:

Exceptional imagery:

• Native 4k projector component (3.66 megapixels projected).
• Outstanding projection quality thanks to Digitalis’s innovative, proprietary fisheye lens: Consistent focus, contrast, brightness, and pixel sizes across the dome.
• Superb base projector contrast ratio of up to 500,000:1.

Easy maintenance:

• 30,000 hours expected lifetime via a laser-phosphor projector. There are no lamps to replace—ever.
• Unparalleled software support with all system software developed and maintained by Digitalis.

Flexible, robust functionality:

• Uniquely intuitive and untethered user interfaces: teach from anywhere in the dome.
• Powerful simulation-visualization software allows you to teach virtually anything in a 3D immersive environment.
• Multimedia functionality and high resolution dataset imagery are integrated within the simulation software: No need to break the magic by switching applications.

Affordable:

• Available with three different software packages to meet various budgets: Starter, Basic, and Professional.
• See the product page for prices.

We are confident that the Digitarium Mu will be loved by many, especially whoever needs to take their planetarium on the road. By designing a super portable yet affordable and full-featured system we have dramatically increased the number of institutions that can offer traveling planetarium programs.

Also be sure to download our Planetarium Buyer’s Guide. It provides valuable information about the buying process and includes a list of important questions for vendors.