JP2022113278A - meteor projector - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a meteor projector capable of projecting meteor images in a highly expressive manner.SOLUTION: A meteor projector (10) is provided, comprising an optical bright spot projector (23) configured to output a bright sport representing a body of a meteor, a deflection mechanism (38) configured to move at least a projected position of the bright spot, and a video projector (31) configured to output a video image representing a trail of the meteor corresponding to the bright spot.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to meteor projectors.

Meteors are sometimes projected in planetariums, and devices for projecting meteors are known. For example, a disk with a spiral slit pattern and a disk with a radial slit pattern are superimposed and rotated at different speeds. A device for projecting a meteor image is known. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-200002 discloses a technology related to such a projection device.

JP-A-57-116382

Observing an actual meteor, we sometimes see not only a moving bright spot but also a bright moving bright spot and a faint line-like mark where it passes. Meteor projectors in planetariums are also required to have high expressive power so as to be able to project such meteor images consisting of bright spots and traces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a meteor projector capable of projecting images of meteors with high expressiveness.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the meteor projector includes an optical bright point projector configured to emit a bright point light representing the main body of the meteor, and moving at least the projection position of the bright point light. and a video projector configured to emit image light of an image representing meteor traces corresponding to the main body.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a meteor projector capable of projecting images of meteors with high expressiveness.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of a planetarium system according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an outline of a configuration example of the meteor projector according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the optical system of the meteor projector according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a meteor. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the angle of the deflection mirror, the image emitted from the small video projector, and the bright spots representing the body of the meteor emitted from the bright spot projector when projecting the meteor image. . FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of operations of the deflecting mirror, the bright spot projector, and the small video projector at each timing. FIG. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing an outline of a configuration example of a meteor body projector according to the second embodiment.

[First embodiment]
A first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment relates to a planetarium system, in particular a planetarium system having a meteor projector for projecting meteors. The meteor projector of the present embodiment can project an image of a meteor that well represents the appearance of an actual meteor, including a bright spot that is the body of the meteor and traces appearing along the trajectory of the bright spot.

<Configuration of planetarium system>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of a planetarium system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the planetarium system 1 of this embodiment comprises a hemispherical dome 3 with a screen 2 on its inner surface. A planetarium projector 4 is arranged in the center of the dome 3 . A planetarium projector 4 projects a star image onto the screen 2 on the inner surface of the dome 3 . A plurality of digital video projectors 5 are arranged near the outer periphery of the dome 3 . Each video projector 5 can project an image on the entire surface of the screen 2 as a whole by projecting an image at a position different from each other. A video projector 5 projects a picture representing a starry sky, scenery, constellations, etc. onto the screen 2 . A meteor projector 10 according to this embodiment is arranged in the dome 3 . The meteor projector 10 projects a meteor image on the screen 2 .

The planetarium system 1 comprises a controller 6 that controls the operations of the planetarium projector 4 , the video projector 5 and the meteor projector 10 . The control device 6 comprises a computer. The control device 6 comprises an integrated circuit such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The control device 6 also includes a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a storage, an input device, a display device, various interfaces, and the like. The control device 6 operates according to programs or hardware.

The control device 6 includes an image processing device that performs various types of image processing on images projected using the video projector 5 or the meteor projector 10 and outputs image data. As long as the control device 6 has functions related to controlling the operations of the planetarium projector 4, the video projector 5, and the meteor projector 10 and performing image processing, the control device 6 can be configured by any number of devices, regardless of where they are arranged. may

<Configuration of meteor projector>
FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an outline of a configuration example of the meteor projector 10 according to this embodiment. The meteor projector 10 is configured to project a meteor image including a bright spot, which is the body of the meteor, and a trace appearing along the trajectory of the bright spot.

An optical system 20 for projecting a meteor image is provided inside a housing 13, of which only the bottom plate is schematically depicted in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing this optical system 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the optical system 20 of the meteor projector 10 includes a luminescent spot projector 23 for projecting the luminescent spot of the meteor body and a small optical system 23 for projecting the image of the meteor trail. and a small video projector 31, which is a digital video projector. The bright spot projector 23 is an optical device configured to emit bright spot light. The optical system 20 superimposes the luminescent spot light from the luminescent spot projector 23 and the image light of the trace image from the small video projector 31 to create synthetic light representing a meteor, and projects this synthetic light onto the screen 2. It is configured.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the bright point projector 23 has a light source LED 25 , a pinhole original plate 26 and a projection lens 27 . Light emitted from the light source LED 25 passes through the pinholes of the pinhole master plate 26, is collimated by the projection lens 27, and is emitted from the bright spot projector 23 as bright spot light. This bright spot light is transmitted through the half mirror 33 and reaches the deflecting mirror 35 . The bright spot light reflected by the deflecting mirror 35 and projected onto the screen 2 forms a point-like image representing the body of the meteor on the screen 2 . The bright point projector 23 is configured to change the brightness of the bright point light. The brightness may be changed, for example, by changing the intensity of light emitted from the light source LED 25, or by opening and closing a diaphragm (not shown) provided in the optical path.

The small-sized video projector 31 emits image light of an image representing the trail of the meteor according to the main body of the meteor. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the image light of the marks emitted from the compact video projector 31 is reflected by the half mirror 33 provided in the optical path of the bright spot light from the bright spot projector 23 to the deflection mirror 35. , and reaches the deflecting mirror 35 . The image light reflected by the deflecting mirror 35 and projected onto the screen 2 forms an image representing meteor marks on the screen 2 .

Thus, in the optical system 20, the luminescent point light from the luminescent point projector 23 and the image light of the scar from the small video projector 31 are superimposed by the half mirror 33 to create synthetic light representing a meteor. It is projected onto the screen 2 via the deflecting mirror 35 . Since the marks are relatively dark, the reflectance of the image light from the small video projector 31 by the half mirror 33 may be several percent, and the half mirror 33 may be substantially made of glass.

The meteor projector 10 of the present embodiment includes a deflection mechanism 38 in order to express the motion of a meteor, i.e., a fast-moving star. The deflection mechanism 38 has the deflection mirror 35 described above and a deflection motor 37 for rotating the deflection mirror 35 . The meteor image projected on the screen 2 moves on the screen 2 by the deflection motor 37 rotating the deflection mirror 35 that reflects the combined light. In this way, the movement of the meteor is expressed. Thus, the deflection mechanism 38 having the deflection mirror 35 and the deflection motor 37 moves the projection position of the combined light representing the meteor. Since the projection light is moved only by the rotation of the deflecting mirror 35, it is possible to move at high speed, and the motion of a fast meteor can be appropriately reproduced.

As the deflection mirror 35 rotates, the image emitted from the small video projector 31 and projected onto the screen 2 rotates. Therefore, in order to prevent the image of the mark projected on the screen 2 from rotating, the image of the mark output from the compact video projector 31 is controlled to rotate according to the rotation of the deflecting mirror 35 . Such image adjustment is performed by an image processing unit provided in the control device 6, for example.

The meteor projector 10 includes a rotation support 16 that rotatably supports the entire housing 13 provided with the optical system 20 so that the movement direction of the meteor represented by the rotation of the deflecting mirror 35 can be changed. A radial angle motor 17 is connected to the rotation support section 16 , and the rotation support section 16 can rotate the housing 13 around the shaft 15 by the power of the radial angle motor 17 . In this manner, the rotation support portion 16 and the radiation angle motor 17 constitute the rotation mechanism 18 . By rotating the rotating mechanism 18 , the direction of movement of the projection light due to the rotation of the deflecting mirror 35 can be any radial direction about the intersection of the axis 15 and the screen 2 .

The rotation support portion 16 is supported by a pedestal 19 . The pedestal 19 is preferably configured so that the shaft 15 can be oriented in any direction. By directing the axis 15 to the radiant point of the meteor shower, the meteor projector 10 can make the direction of movement of the projection position by the deflecting mirror 35 radial from the radiant point, and the meteor shower appears radially around the radiant point. You can reproduce the meteor of

<Operation of Meteor Projector>
First, a commonly seen meteor will be described with reference to FIG. Meteors change their brightness as they flow. For example, the brightness of a meteor follows a process in which it gradually brightens after it begins to emit light, rapidly brightens midway, then darkens and disappears. Also, sometimes the brightness of meteors varies irregularly. The brightness of a meteor trail generally follows the brightness of the body of the meteor, and the brightness at each position of the trail tends to be proportional to the brightness of the body when it passes that position.

In FIG. 4, (a) to (e) schematically show how the meteor changes over time. The asterisk in the figure represents the body 61 of the meteor, and its size expresses the brightness. From figures (a) to (d), the meteor body 61 is moving from right to left. The brightness gradually increases from (a) when the light starts to emit light to (c) in the middle, then gradually darkens until (d), and then disappears. The brightness at the moment when the main body 61 passed the position is indicated by a dashed star, and the brightness of the mark 63 corresponds to the brightness when the main body 61 passes the position.

After the main body 61 of the meteor disappears, the scar 63 disappears in less than one second in many cases, but may remain for several tens of seconds or more in the case of a particularly bright meteor. If the trace 63 remains for a long time, the pattern of change in brightness of the body 61 of the meteor remains as it is in the sky like an afterimage. And in the process of this gradual disappearance, the shape may gradually change irregularly due to the influence of the upper atmosphere. FIG. 4(e) schematically shows the appearance of such a deformed trace 64. As shown in FIG.

The operation of the meteor projector 10 for projecting a meteor image as described above will be described. FIG. 5 shows the angles of the deflecting mirror 35 expressed as altitudes from the ground plane when projecting meteor images in the states (a) to (e) shown in FIG. 1 schematically shows an image and a bright point light representing the main body of a meteor emitted from a bright point projector 23. FIG.

In (a) to (d) when the meteor flows downward, the deflecting mirror 35 rotates and the altitude ALT from the ground gradually decreases as shown in FIG. At the timing (d) when the meteor disappears, the deflection mirror 35 stops rotating.

During (a) to (d), the main body of the meteor, that is, the brightness of the luminescent spot 71 emitted from the luminescent spot projector 23 gradually brightens from (a) until (c) when the luminescent spot 71 appears. , then gradually darkens from (c) to (d), and finally disappears.

An image 72 output by the small video projector 31 includes an image 73 of a mark. Since the bright spot 71 by the bright spot projector 23 is superimposed on the center of the image 72, the trace image 73 is drawn from the center of the image 72 to the rear side in the traveling direction. The trace of the image 73 is gradually lengthened according to the amount of movement of the meteor body, and as it becomes longer, the image 73 of the trace is gradually displaced rearward in the traveling direction. As described above, the image projected on the screen 2 also rotates as the deflecting mirror 35 rotates. Change to rotate. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the angle θ of the trace image 73 in the image 72 gradually changes between (a) to (d). Also, in the case (e) where the deflection mirror 35 stops rotating and the bright spot 71 disappears, the image 72 includes an image 74 of a deformed mark.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the position and speed of the deflecting mirror 35, the operation of the bright point projector 23, and the operation of the compact video projector 31 at each timing.

At step S1 in the initial state, the deflection mirror 35 is positioned at the origin and stopped. At this time, the bright point projector 23 does not emit bright point light, and the compact video projector 31 does not emit image light. Note that the origin may be set at any position.

In step S2, which is a stage prior to projecting the meteor, the deflection mirror 35 is rotated at an arbitrary speed by the deflection motor 37 and moved to a position slightly upstream of the appearance position of the meteor as a target position. At step S3 when the target position is reached, the deflecting mirror 35 stops and waits until the meteor is projected.

In step S4 for starting the meteor projection operation, the deflecting mirror 35 starts rotating, accelerates, and when the rotational speed reaches a predetermined speed corresponding to the moving speed of the meteor, it maintains rotation at the predetermined speed. do.

In step S5 when the deflection mirror 35 reaches the position corresponding to the appearance position of the meteor, the bright point projector 23 starts projecting the bright point 71, and the small video projector 31 starts projecting the image 73 of the trace.

During step S6 of projecting the flowing meteor, the deflecting mirror 35 rotates at a predetermined speed. During this time, the bright point projector 23 changes the brightness of the bright point light in a predetermined pattern so as to represent the change in brightness of the meteor itself. Further, as described above, the small video projector 31 emits the image light associated with the image 73 of the trace whose position is shifted and whose angle changes while gradually lengthening.

In step S7 when the deflecting mirror 35 reaches the position corresponding to the meteor disappearance position, the deflecting mirror 35 immediately stops rotating. At this time, the bright point projector 23 also stops emitting the bright point light. The small video projector 31 emits image light corresponding to the image 74 of the deformed mark.

At step S8 where the trace disappears, the small video projector 31 stops emitting the image light, and the deflecting mirror 35 moves toward the origin at an arbitrary speed. In step S9 when the origin is reached, the deflecting mirror 35 stops, and the process returns to the initial state of step S1.

By the operation described above, the meteor projector 10 projects a meteor image on the screen 2 . In some cases, the meteor projector 10 repeats the above operation to project meteor images on the screen 2 one after another.

What kind of information determines the appearance of the projected meteor, such as the position where the meteor appears and disappears, the speed of movement from the appearance position to the disappearance position, the pattern of change in brightness of the meteor itself, the time when the trace remains, etc. may be obtained by the method Data of a plurality of patterns may be prepared in advance and one of the data may be selected at the time of projection, or these data may be calculated based on a predetermined function at the time of projection. For example, the change in brightness of the meteor body may be obtained as a function of time or as a function of angular position. Further, for example, the angular position may be calculated based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the meteor in the actual sky, the apparent brightness may be calculated based on the physical luminosity change of the meteor, and the brightness of the bright spot may be determined. . At this time, the initial position at which the meteor appears may be determined based on random numbers. At this time, if the meteor belongs to a meteor shower, the traveling direction of the meteor may be calculated based on the eigenvalue determined for each meteor shower. Alternatively, the brightness of the bright spot may be calculated based on a meteor physics simulation. The pattern of luminance change or a function for calculating it can be determined in any of a variety of ways, such as observation data, physical simulation, artificial creation, and the like.

The meteor projector 10 according to the present embodiment uses a combination of the bright point projector 23 and the small video projector 31 to produce an image of a meteor that includes a meteor body with high brightness and traces that can have various patterns. It can be projected and has high expressive power. In addition, since the combined light obtained by superimposing the luminescent point by the luminescent point projector 23 and the image of the mark by the small video projector 31 is moved by the rotation of the deflection mirror 35, the position corresponding to the luminescent point on the projector screen is , is fixed regardless of changes in the projection position of the image by the deflecting mirror 35 . Therefore, even if the meteor moves at high speed, the positional relationship between the trace and the bright spot can be easily maintained accurately.

In addition, the above-mentioned embodiment is an example, and can be changed suitably. For example, the configuration of the optical system 20 can be appropriately changed as long as it can perform the same function. For example, instead of the half mirror 33, a hole through which the light emitted from the bright point projector 23 passes is provided so that the light emitted from the bright point projector 23 and the image light emitted from the compact video projector 31 are superimposed. A mirror may be provided, or other optical element may be provided. Also, a configuration may be adopted in which the light emitted from the bright point projector 23 and the light emitted from the compact video projector 31 are arranged close to each other so as to be parallel. Further, the deflection mechanism for moving the projection position of the meteor is not limited to the configuration consisting of the deflection mirror 35 and the deflection motor 37. , and may have any configuration as long as the projection position can be moved.

[Second embodiment]
A second embodiment will be described. Here, the points of difference from the first embodiment will be described, and the same parts will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. The meteor projector 10 of the first embodiment includes a bright point projector 23 and a small video projector 31, and simultaneously projects the bright point light of the meteor body and the image light of the trace in a superimposed state. In contrast, in the second embodiment, a meteor body projector 90 is used instead of the meteor projector 10 of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an outline of a configuration example of a meteor body projector 90 according to the second embodiment. A meteor body projector 90 has an optical system 91 obtained by removing the compact video projector 31 and the half mirror 33 from the meteor projector 10 of the first embodiment. Therefore, the meteor body projector 90 projects only the bright spots representing the body of the meteor. Other configurations of the meteor body projector 90 of the second embodiment are the same as those of the meteor projector 10 of the first embodiment.

In the planetarium system 1 of this embodiment, the video projector 5 provided in the dome 3 projects an image of meteor trails. Therefore, the appearance of the meteor is reproduced by the bright spot representing the meteor body projected by the meteor body projector 90 and the image of the meteor trail projected by the video projector 5 . Thus, in this embodiment, the combination of the meteor body projector 90 and the video projector 5 constitutes a meteor projector that projects the meteor body and its traces.

The meteor projector consisting of the meteor body projector 90 and the video projector 5 of the present embodiment also reproduces the appearance of the meteor including the meteor body with high brightness and the traces that can have various patterns, and has high expressive power. can be realized.

Note that the meteor body projector 90 need not be used only for projecting the body of the meteor. For example, a device similar to meteor body projector 90 (also referred to herein as meteor body projector 90) may be used to project bright stars. In this case, instead of the planetarium projectors 4, the planetarium system 1 comprises a number of meteor body projectors 90, which project bright stars, other stars projected by the video projectors 5, and some meteor body projectors. Machine 90 may project the body of the meteor.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and that various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. Nor.

1 Planetarium System 2 Screen 3 Dome 4 Planetarium Projector 5 Video Projector 6 Control Device 10 Meteor Projector 13 Housing 15 Shaft 16 Rotation Support Part 17 Radiation Angle Motor 18 Rotation Mechanism 19 Pedestal 20 Optical System 23 Bright Point Projector 25 Light Source LED
26 pinhole original plate 27 projection lens 31 compact video projector 33 half mirror 35 deflection mirror 37 deflection motor 38 deflection mechanism 61 main body 63 trace 64 deformed trace 71 bright spot 72 image 73 image of trace 74 image of deformed trace 90 meteor body projection machine 91 optical system

Claims (9)

an optical bright point projector configured to emit a bright point light representative of the body of the meteor;
a deflection mechanism configured to move at least the projection position of the bright spot light;
A meteor projector, comprising: a video projector configured to emit image light of an image representing a meteor trail corresponding to the main body. further comprising an optical system configured to generate combined light by superimposing the luminescent spot light emitted from the luminescent spot projector and the image light emitted from the video projector;
The deflection mechanism is configured to move the projection position of the combined light,
The meteor projector of claim 1. the deflection mechanism includes a deflection mirror configured to reflect the combined light and configured to move the projection position by changing the tilt;
the orientation of the marks in the image representing the marks is configured to change according to the tilt of the deflection mirror;
3. The meteor projector of claim 2. 4. The meteor projector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the length of the trace in the image representing the trace is configured to correspond to the amount of movement of the projection position. 5. The meteor projector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the luminescent point projector is configured such that the brightness of the luminescent point light can be varied during projection. 6. The meteor projector according to claim 5, wherein the marks in the image representing the marks correspond to changes in brightness of the bright spot light. 7. The meteor projector of any preceding claim, further comprising a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the deflection mechanism so as to radially change the direction of movement of the projection position by the deflection mechanism. . 8. The video projector according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the video projector is configured to emit the image light of the image representing the mark even after the emission of the bright point light by the bright point projector is stopped. The meteor projector described. 9. The meteor projector according to claim 8, wherein the deflection mechanism is configured to stop moving the projection position after the emission of the bright spot light by the bright spot projector stops.

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