When I was a little kid living in rural Virginia, on warm spring and summer nights after going to bed I would put my pillow in the open window at the head of my bed. I'd rest my head on the pillow with my head sticking out of the window sill, and gaze up and out at the midnight blue sky. There was no nearby light pollution to spoil the enchanting view of the twinkling stars and glowing moon.
Ever since moving from the rural countryside, I have missed that beautiful night view. Especially in Los Angeles where there is so much junk in the night sky that you can barely see the moon sometimes. (Of course, what I do have out here that I did not have in rural Virginia is the Pacific Ocean. I enjoy going out to the beach and sitting at the foot of the Majestic Waters just as much as I enjoy gazing at the night sky.)
Well, one day a few years ago I was at the Griffith Observatory. A friend from Germany was visiting and I took him up there to show him the spectacular view of Hollywood and Los Angeles. (Fortunately, it was a clear day!) We went into the gift shop and I saw several different packages of glow-in-the-dark stars that you could affix to a ceiling to make a night sky. I bought them and stuck them away in a drawer for a rainy-day project.
Then sometime later, we had our apartment painted. I asked the painter to paint the ceiling of my bedroom a pale cyan color -- the color of the daytime sky on a summer day. He did that for me, and then I placed the stars up in the ceiling. It created a lovely effect at night, especially when the stars were activated with a blacklight.
Then, more recently, I went again to Griffith Park with another friend. He bought me a wonderful gift there -- an 24-inch inflatable globe that is made from actual satellite images. It's really beautiful and very detailed. As soon as I saw it I knew where I wanted to keep it -- hanging from my starry ceiling.
While we were at Griffith Park I saw something else that caught my eye -- "LaserStars," a laser light-show that creates a three-dimensional starry sky on a ceiling! Oh my, I was just dying to get it, but at almost $200 the cost was prohibitive.
When I got home, I started looking for the star-projector on-line. Lo and behold, there one was, on eBay for less than one-fourth the cost of a new unit, with free shipping to boot! I could hardly wait for it to get here. As soon as it arrived I unboxed it, aimed it onto my bedroom ceiling and turned it on. What I saw brought tears to my eyes.
I can't begin to tell you how beautiful the effect of the projector is. At night when it's beaming its laser light show across my ceiling, it literally looks as if the ceiling has disappeared and, with a little imagination, I am looking up into the night sky again!
This is a short video I made showing the evolution of my "home planetarium" -- first the glowing stars, then the Earth, and then the laser light show.
This video doesn't begin to "do justice" to the full effect of the Laser Stars. My entire bedroom ceiling shimmers and twinkles with hundreds and hundreds of stars. You can only see the brightest ones in this video.
(Oh, and just to tie in my love of the ocean, I have had for many years a "surf generator" -- a little box I bought from Sharper Image (remember that wonderful store?!). I improved its sound quality by running it through a small amplifier and a set of speakers hidden under my bed. It's turned up just enough to give the effect of waves rolling and surging in the nearby distance.)
The music in the video is Maurice Duruflé's beautiful setting of "Ubi Caritas:"
Where charity and love are, God is there.
His love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
May we with the saints
See Thy face in glory, O Lord our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages.
Loading...
That Earthball is cool! I have one of those!
ThatZACHARY117 1 year ago
For a video about stars, it's odd that you disabled the star rating system :-D.
Anyway, 5 stars * * * * *
DJCruicky 1 year ago
What you wrote about Los Angeles light pollution is so true. I miss seeing the stars, I mean really seeing them. This video is awesome!
krusher1977 1 year ago
that is really very ingenius using the shade and the paint on the light and close to it to get the superglow stars, looks well.
louislestat123 2 years ago
(sniffles)....beautiful....
bhfam 2 years ago
looks awsome
rainbowdragon1215 2 years ago
Nice, was thinking of doing that for my bedroom
MPG350 2 years ago
Sweet...
WowIndescribable 2 years ago
Charlie that look awesome
evacguy95 2 years ago