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Watch Star Clusters and Nebulae through Binoculars Scrutinizing star gazers will discover a number of small nebular objects in the night-time sky. Watched through binoculars or a telescope, some of them resolve into clusters of faint stars, while others remain nebulous though displaying marked features. These are gaseous nebulae and galaxies. Carl Zeiss planetariums offer a new, efficient presentation of star clusters and nebulae. Globular clusters and smaller open clusters are groups of faint stars relatively close to each other. Here again, technology follows the pattern of nature: The star clusters projected to the planetarium dome are also composed of a number of very faint stars. Therefore they appear to the eye just as natural clusters would. For the presentation of the brighter nebular objects we use sky photographs digitized by a special method. Similar to a half-tone screening reproduction, the digital image is transferred to the chrome coating of the star masks by means of a laser gun and illuminated through a thicker fiber. Thus, the galaxies and gaseous nebulae are reproduced with their characteristic forms and features. For the first time it is sensible to use binoculars in a planetarium. What appears to the naked eye as a blurred, nebulous spot reveals the typical features of the Andromeda nebula, the Magellanic Clouds or the Orion nebula if observed through binoculars.
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