Uncle Milton's Toys Star Theater 3 User manual
®
AGES 8+
2009
Instruction ManualInstruction Manual
Planetarium Projector
with Astronomy Software
Planetarium Projector
with Astronomy Software
Table of Contents
Discover the Universe!
Your Own Planetarium
What Is a Constellation?
The Star Sphere
Assembly and Operation
Installing Batteries
Operating Your Planetarium
Setting the Date and Time
Care and Maintenance
Meteors and Comets
The Constellations
The Moving Sky
The Constellations of the Zodiac
How to Find the Visible Planets
Stellarium Computer Software
Learn More About Astronomy
Planet Information Table
Annual Meteor Showers
Planet Position Tables
.......................................................................................................3
......................................................................................................3
....................................................................................................3
....................................................................................................................4
..................................................................................................4
.......................................................................................................4
....................................................................................5
........................................................................................6
.......................................................................................................6
..........................................................................................................7
...............................................................................................................7
..................................................................................................................10
.................................................................................10
....................................................................................13
....................................................................................13
......................................................................................13
................................................................................................14
.................................................................................................14
......................................................................................................15
Audio CD script by Susan Cannon
Music and audio production by Donovan Reimer
Discover the Universe!
Welcome to the amazing world of astronomy! Astronomers spend their time
discovering the nature of space and everything in it. As big as our planet Earth is, it is
just one of eight planets orbiting the sun, which is just one of billions of stars in our
home galaxy, the Milky Way, which is just one of billions of galaxies in the universe. So
you can see that it will be a long, long time, if ever, until astronomers run out of things
to discover!
Your Own Planetarium
Have you ever been to a planetarium show? Do you remember when you sat back and
saw the night sky projected by a huge star projector, while the astronomer guided you
on a journey through space and time? Remember how much fun and how interesting
that show was? Your planetarium does much the same thing, right in your own room.
Your planetarium allows you to...
• Project stars, outlines of the constellations, and their names on the walls and
ceiling all around you
• Project the night sky for any season or month of the year with its one-piece
fully-integrated star sphere — no separate overlays to break or lose
• Accurately project the night sky by date and hour
• Project the night sky in its correct directional orientation
• Treat yourself and your friends to an exciting sight and sound tour of the night sky.
With your planetarium, you will learn the locations of the brightest and easiest-to-nd
constellations, stars, and planets. By taking the tour and reading this guide, you will
come away with a good understanding of the night sky.
What Is a Constellation?
If you look at the stars in the night sky long enough, you will notice how groups of
stars form familiar objects, something like connect-the-dots pictures. Many centuries
ago, people who gazed at the stars noticed pictures out there— and gave names to
them. This helped them create a “map” of the night sky, making it easier to locate the
stars.
But these gures are not really sitting out there in space. They are only imaginary
patterns created by the relative positions of the stars as we see them from Earth. Some
stars that appear to be right next to each other are in fact very far apart. They just look
close together from where we are looking at them on Earth. If you could somehow see
the night sky from another part of the galaxy, the relative positions of the stars would
be completely dierent and you would be able to discover totally new constellations.
3
Fig. 2
Battery Cap
Screw
Align
Battery
Module
with
groove
Fig. 4
Fig. 3
Battery
Module
Battery
Cap
Fig. 1
Horizon Ring
4
The Star Sphere
The Star SphereTM is a replica in miniature of the largest and brightest objects in space
surrounding our planet. If you were to put Earth in the sphere, it would be located at
the exact center, where the light bulb is. The dots printed on the sphere represent
stars. The glow-in-the dark dots represent the brightest, easiest-to-nd stars. The lines
connecting the stars show the constellations.
About 99 percent of visible stars like those on the star sphere are in the solar
neighbourhood. That means they are within about 100 light-years of Earth. This is
nearby, compared to the other stars in the spiral arm of our galaxy where our solar
system is located. A light-year is the distance light can travel in one year, which is
about 6 trillion miles or nine and a half trillion kilometers.
Assembly and Operation
Installing Batteries for the Light Wand
1. First remove the horizon ring and then remove light
wand from base (see Fig. 1).
2. With a small Phillips-head screwdriver ,
remove the screw on the battery cap. Unscrew
battery cap located at the end of wand. Gently
shake the wand so that the battery module slides
out (see Fig. 2).
3. Insert three (3) AA batteries into battery module,
making sure the “+” and “-” ends are in correct
placement as indicated (see Fig. 3). Alkaline
batteries are recommended.
4. Insert battery module into light wand, making sure
the grooves align (see Fig. 4). Replace battery cap
and Phillips head screw (do not over-tighten). Place
the light wand back into base.
Night
Light
Fig. 5
Night
light
On/O
5
Installing Batteries for the Night-light
1. Turn Star Theater 3.0 on its side and, using a small
Phillips-head screwdriver, remove the battery cover.
2. Insert three (3)“AAA” batteries. Make sure the “+” and
“-” ends are inserted correctly, as indicated (see Fig. 5).
3. Replace battery cover.
Operating Your Planetarium
1. Place your planetarium in the corner of a room on a table or bookshelf. This allows
the projection to cover walls and ceiling. A room with smooth light-colored walls
and ceiling works best. A room that is approximately 12 x 12 feet provides the best
projection quality. Star Theater 3.0 works best when it is located between one to
six feet from the projection surface. If your ceiling is very high, place the
planetarium on a shelf or create a raised platform by piling up books for example.
Raise or lower the planetarium until the stars are in sharp focus.
2. Rotate your planetarium so that N (North) on the compass lines up with the raised
dot. This allows your planetarium to project the stars in the same directional
orientation as they are in the real night sky outside.
Your planetarium projects stars that are visible from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere,
including North and Central America, Hawaii, Europe, Russia, Asia, Northern Africa,
and the Middle East.
3. Date selector is located on light wand. To set your planetarium for the beginning of
the audio tour, rotate light wand until“AUTUMN” lines up with pointer on the base.
At various breaks during the audio tour, you will be asked to pause the CD and
adjust your planetarium for the next season. (The month and date settings and the
time ring will be used after the audio tour to set your planetarium for a specic date
and time of day.)
4. Close curtains or blinds. Turn on projection lamp. (Do not look directly at the Star
Sphere while its light is on, or you will lose your darkness adaptation.)
5. Start the audio tour CD, turn o the lights, sit back and enjoy the show.
Projection
Lamp Wand
Fig. 8
Projection
Lamp
Collar
Time Ring
Date
Selector
Fig. 7
Fig. 6
Push a paper clip into this
hole to release Star Sphere
6
Setting the Date and Time
Once you’ve taken the audio tour, you can set your
planetarium to project the night sky for any date and
hour. You can easily adjust your planetarium for any
date you wish: your birthday, a holiday, the nal day of
school, last Thursday, or any other date. Here is how:
1. Setting the date: With projection lamp o, turn light
wand until the month you want lines up with the pointer on date selector (see Fig
6). Below the month, there are markings indicating the 1st, 10th and 20th of the
month. Turn light wand to the left (so that Star Sphere turns to the west) until the
date you want lines up with the pointer. For example, if you want to project the
night sky the way it is on July 4th, rst select July, then turn further to the left, to
just past the mark for the rst day of the month.
2. Setting the time: Once you have selected the month and date, rotate the time
ring— without turning the light wand—so that the time at which the sun sets lines
up with the pointer. (The time at sunset can be found in the local newspaper or on
the Internet.) Now turn the light wand to the exact time you want. (Don’t worry
that the months and dates are changing on the date selector as you are adjusting
the time; once you’ve selected the date and set the time ring for sunset, the time
selection function takes over.) You can set your planetarium to project the stars for
any time of the night. You can even see what stars are up during the day, when
they are not visible.
Care and Maintenance
Remove batteries when not in use for extended periods.
Keep star sphere clean with a soft cloth and quality
anti-static cleaner/polish. Never use abrasive cleaners.
Bulb replacement: Replacement bulbs are available at most
electronics retailers. Halogen bulb, Voltage: 3.6 V, Current:
500 – 600 mA. Part No. LR00001.
The bulb is only to be replaced by an adult.
1. Remove Star Sphere and light wand from base.
2. Push a paper clip into the small hole directly above the
on/off button. At the same time, rotate light wand
counterclockwise to Star Sphere. Remove
it from Star Sphere (see Fig. 7).
3. Carefully pull old projection lamp out of tip of light wand.
4. Insert replacement bulb into tip of light wand (see Fig. 8). (Important: Be careful
not to bend prongs of the bulb.) Turn light wand on to make sure bulb lights up,
then turn it o.
7
5. Reinsert light wand into Star Sphere. Rotate light wand clockwise until it clicks
into place. This is important for accurate date and time adjustments.
6. Place Star Sphere and light wand back into base.
Meteors and Comets
A comet is basically a big rock, made of ice and dust, that orbits the sun in a wide,
elliptical path. Most comets take many years to complete a full orbit. One of the most
famous, comet Halley, visits the inner solar system once every 76 years. Comets are
smaller than planets. Some are relatively small in size and some are many miles across.
A meteoroid is a tiny particle, usually about the size of a grain of sand, that was left
behind by a comet. When it comes close to Earth and enters the atmosphere, it burns
up brightly and is called a meteor. Usually, meteors come in large bunches. During a
meteor shower thousands of meteors can be seen streaking across the sky for several
nights. A meteorite is a meteor that fell to the ground without burning up. (See Annual
Meteor Showers table on page 14.)
The Constellations
Constellations are imaginary pictures created by connecting stars together with
imaginary lines. These "star pictures" were usually named after ancient Mesopotamian
and Greek gods, heroes, and animals. Today's astronomers consider constellations as
an agreed-upon region of the sky containing a group of stars. There are 88 ocial
constellations.
Each constellation can contain dozens, if not hundreds, of visible stars. The following
star maps show the brighter stars — the ones you see when looking for star groupings
in the night sky. The "connect-the-dot" lines will help you as you learn these
constellations. You will also see the mythological drawings of some of the
constellations.
The constellations are divided into ve different groupings—the stars in the northern
sky and the stars of each season. It's important to remember that the seasonal
groupings are a general guide. For example, winter constellations are not just visible
during the winter months of December, January, and February. (Experiment with your
planetarium to discover why!) The season refers to the time of year the constellation or
group of constellations become easily visible in the night sky after the sun sets.
The seasonal groupings also help us understand the cycle of the sky. Because of the
Earth's annual orbit around the sun, the stars in the night sky change over the course of a
year. But due to the xed nature of the constellations, spring stars always follow the
winter stars into the sky, summer stars follow the spring stars, etc. Learning the brighter
constellations from each season will open the door to understanding the entire night sky.
Andromeda
Galaxy
Alpheratz
CETUS
(The Whale)
CETUS
(The Whale)
THE PLOUGH
Arcturas
Spica
Regulos
Altair
Vega
Alberio
Deneb
Antares
ERIDANUS
(The River)
ERIDANUS
(The River)
LEPUS
(The Hare)
LEPUS
(The Hare)
PLEIADES
(The Seven Sisters)
Capella
Sirius Rigel
Betelgeuse
Orion
Nebula
Procyon
Castor
Pollux
Aldebaran
SUMMER
TRIANGLE
GREAT
SQUARE
Winter Constellations
Spring Constellations
Stars to look for...
1. The Plough
2. Regulus
3. Spica
4. Arcturus
Summer Constellations
Stars to look for...
1. Deneb
2. Vega
3. Altair
4. Antares
Winter Constellations
Stars to look for...
1. Aldebaran
2. Pleiades
3. Orion Nebula
4. Betelgeuse
5. Rigel
6. Sirius
7. Procyon
8. Castor
Autumn
Constellations
Stars to look for...
1. Andromeda Galaxy
2. Alpheratz
Mizar
Pointer stars
North Star
Northern Circumpolar
Constellations
Stars to look for...
1. Polaris
2. Pointer Stars
3. Mizar
“Little Dipper”
“Big Dipper”
SAGITTARIUS
8 9
ECLIPTIC
ECLIPTIC
LEO CANCER GEMINI
AURIGA PERSEUS
CANIS MINOR
CANIS MINOR
ORION
LEPUS ERIDANUS CETUS
TAURUS
ARIES
PISCES
ANDROMEDA
PEGASUS
CYGNUS
AQUILA
LYRA
AQUARIUS
CAPRICORNUS
SAGITTARIUS SCORPIUS
VIRGO
LIBRA
BOOTES
HERCULES
OPHIUCHUS
The Constellations of the Zodiac
The constellations of the zodiac are the oldest
star patterns, withTaurus the bull being the
most ancient of them all. Because of the Earth's
orbit around the sun once a year, the sun
seems to move against the background stars.
The path the sun appears to take is called the
ecliptic.The zodiacal constellations lay along
the ecliptic, which made them very important
star patterns to the ancient peoples who relied
on the night sky as their calendar.
While this map of the zodiacal constellations
shows the ecliptic as a curved line, your
planetarium projects this path as a great circle
around the entire sky.Turn on your planetarium
and project the stars onto a wall. Rotate it
slowly so you follow the constellations of the
zodiac through one year.
10 11
Although we can’t feel it, the Earth rotates eastward at about 800 miles an hour at its
surface. The stars, sun, and moon appear to us to move westward when, in fact, we are
the ones that are moving eastward. Because of this, it seems like any given
constellation or star takes about 24 hours to make one round trip around the Earth.
Astronomers, ancient and modern, counted on this 24-hour trip, day after year after
century. They agreed to divide the east-to-west movement of stars into 24 equal parts.
Astronomers picked the spot in the sky where the ecliptic (the path the sun takes in
relation to Earth during a year) crosses the celestial equator as the sun heads north, for
the point at which the 24-hour celestial cycle begins. This is the vernal point, the rst
day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Moving Sky
The horizon ring is an important part of your planetarium. It divides the sky into two
halves, the visible and the nonvisible. In the course of 24 hours, all of the objects
visible from a given location on Earth seem to rise in the east and set in the west.
To see all the stars that are visible from the Northern Hemisphere, slowly rotate the
light wand to the left (westward) while the projection lamp is on. Do you notice that
some stars around Polaris never set while some of the stars that can be seen from the
Southern Hemisphere (at the opposite pole of the star sphere from Polaris) never rise
in the Northern Hemisphere?
Just for practice, adjust your planetarium to project the stars visible in the evening of
March 20, which is about the rst day of spring for us. Which constellations will be on
the meridian (the arc spanning across the sky from pole to pole)? Which constellations
will be rising and which will be setting? That’s easy! With the projection lamp o, set
the date selector to March 20, and then set the time ring to the time at which the Sun
sets (about 6:30 p.m.). Turn o the room lights, turn the projection lamp on, and see
what constellations are up!
Rank Name Constellation Hemisphere
1. Sirius Canis Major N & S
2. Canopus Carina S
3. Alpha Centauri Centauri S
4. Arcturus Boôtes N & S
5. Vega Lyra N & S
6. Capella Auriga N & S
7. Rigel Orion N & S
8. Procyon Canis Minor N & S
9. Achernar Eridanus S
10. Hadar Centauri S
11. Betelgeuse Orion N & S
12. Altair Aquila N & S
13. Aldebaran Taurus N & S
14. Acrux Crux S
15. Antares Scorpius N & S
16. Spica Virgo N & S
17. Pollux Gemini N & S
18. Fomalhaut Pisces Austrinis N & S
19. Deneb Cygnus N & S
20. Beta Crucis Crux S
21. Regulus Leo N & S
22. Adhara Canis Major N & S
23. Castor Gemini N & S
24. Shaula Scorpius S
25. Bellatrix Orion N & S
12
Take your time as you cruise the cosmos. Pick out a few of the brightest stars and study
the stars near them. Use the constellations to guide you to the dimmer stars that can
easily escape the casual observer.
For easier star-watching, you will need to give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness.
Astronomers call this becoming darkness adapted. You will see best after about 20
minutes in the dark. Care should be taken not to look directly at the bright projection
lamp inside your planetarium, so you don’t ruin your night vision.
Here are the 25 brightest stars, after the sun, each listed by its common name,
constellation in which it can be found, and hemisphere from which it is visible:
13
How to Find the Visible Planets
Ocially, there are eight planets and at least three dwarf planets in our solar system.
Four of the planets can be seen without the aid of a telescope or binoculars: Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. (Mercury stays close to the sun, so it is very dicult to see.
Ceres is too small and Uranus and Neptune, Pluto and Eris are too far away to see
without a high-powered telescope.) As four visible planets move in the sky throughout
the year, each appears to pass through certain constellations (the twelve zodiac
constellations plus four others) at any given time. This makes it easy to nd them.
The planet position tables on the back page show you where to locate the visible
planets. Look at how much a planet changes position and compare that to the planet’s
distance from the sun. Notice that the planets farthest from the sun change position
more slowly than the planets closer to the sun. Jupiter spends about a year drifting
through a zodiac constellation, while Saturn takes two years. Meanwhile, Mars and
Venus go speeding through the zodiac constellations.
You can also locate planet positions using the Stellarium software, using the Object
Search function.
Stellarium Astronomy Software
The included Stellarium Astronomy computer software lets you explore the cosmos in
great detail. You can view the night sky for any time—past, present or future—and
from any point on Earth. You can see the constellations and their names and you can
locate the positions of stars, nebulas, planets, and their moons.
Insert the Stellarium disk into your computer’s CD player and follow the set-up
instructions on the screen. The software is compatible with either PC or Mac. System
requirements: Windows XP or Mac OS X with at least 500 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM
and 500 MB of hard disk space . Minimum recommended monitor resolutions is 1024 x
768 pixels. (Note: Software is not currently compatible with Windows Vista or Macs
using Intel Processors.)
Learn More About Astronomy
If you want to learn more about the exciting subject of astronomy, check out your
school’s library, your local public library, a book store, or the Internet. Astronomers are
constantly making new discoveries of the universe.
2009-0250-0310
Quick Start
(See inside for full instructions)
1. Place your planetarium in the center of the room. Raise or lower the planetarium
(use a pile of books for example) until the stars are in sharp focus. Position toward
north using the compass.
2. To set for season: Rotate light wand until current season lines up with pointer.
3. To set for month and date: Rotate light wand until current month and date lines up
with pointer.
4. To set for time: Turn the time ring to the hour the sun sets. Then rotate light wand
left to the current time.
5. Close curtains or blinds and turn o room lights. Turn projection lamp on (but do
not look at it).
6. The sky as it presently appears is projected on the walls and ceiling. Slowly rotate
the light wand to the left to watch the stars rise in the east and set in the west. The
time ring shows the correct time as the sky’s east-west movement progresses.
BATTERY SAFETY INFORMATION
• Non-rechargeable batteries are not to be recharged
• Rechargeable batteries are only to be charged under adult supervision
• Rechargeable batteries are to be removed from the toy before being charged
• Different types of batteries or new and used batteries are not to be mixed
• Batteries are to be inserted with the correct polarity
• Exhausted batteries are to be removed from the toy
• The supply terminals are not to be short-circuited
KEEP THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE — DO NOT DISCARD
Questions? Comments? Please contact us. We can help!
1-888-742-2484 or go to www.unclemilton.com
© 2010 UMI
All rights reserved.
®and TM designate U.S. trademarks of Uncle Milton Industries, Inc.
Westlake Village, CA 91362.
Printed in China.
®
Help the environment by disposing of your products responsibly. The wheelie bin symbol
indicate the product and batteries must not be disposed of in the domestic waste as they
contain substances which can be damaging to the environment and health. Please use
designated collection points or recycling facilities when disposing of the item or batteries.
Table of contents
