The Home Planetarium Association (HPA) is a loose group of builders, collectors, and enthusiasts of planetarium projectors. Founded in 1994, the HPA helps keep the dream alive of having someone's own star theater at home. It covers the categories of constructing a projector from scratch, restore old commercial units, making an "hybrid" as a combination of home and commercial device, and trying a video projection with a computer. The members of the HPA share their knowledge of How-To's, networking, and archiving. There are no constraints to their creativity: Some custom works are made of wood, use the darkened ceiling of the bathroom, or operate on toy mechanisms -- there is no device absurd enough to be disregarded. A newsletter celebrating all of them is periodically available.
Website: www.planetariumsathome.com