About Goto

GOTO INC. developed the first planetarium in Japan in 1959, a Model M-1, with the goal of reproducing the beautiful night sky. That same year the first GOTO in the United States was installed. Since then, they have developed multiple systems over the years that perform with scientific accuracy for planetariums all around the world.

Using unique *fixed star plates; a proprietary process prints fixed stars on a glass plate, providing the maximum position and brightness accuracy. These *fixed stars are projected via lenses onto the dome, and annual motion of the planets is shown automatically. 
​GOTO had considered adopting a Zeiss type design, but chose a Morrison type design to avoid the mechanical flexing, by having the starballs near the center of the machine. This became the basic design for many years to come, and in fact many continue to be used even in today’s computer-controlled projectors.

To plot the positions of the fixed stars, they constructed their own stellar database of 1,000,000,000 observed star locations and produced the fixed star plates used in their projectors. Individual stars making up the Milky Way were also produced in a separate process. As a result, the Milky Way on the dome screen appears to float in the dome as the real Milky Way does in the night sky – art, with the accuracy of science. Because of GOTO's extensive hard work, and their continuous pursuit of new innovations, all naked-eye stars are now available in their proper color temperatures. Always striving to reproduce a more realistic and beautiful starry sky with each new system.

Ash is proud to be the exclusive USA installation and maintenance technicians for GOTO. Each system we install can be customized to fit individuals planetarium needs and budgets. Not only does Ash maintain all GOTO opti-mechanical projectors, we also maintain the GOTO and Evans & Sutherland.

Starred * items show revolutionary technology, which is always in response to customers' needs and the desire to lead, not follow others.

Optical Mechanical Projectors

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CHRONOS II

• Dome diameter range: 25 ～ 52 ft
  • Horizontal Dome / Option: up to 59 ft
• Standard seating : approx.　60 ～ 160 seats
• Number of Fixed Star : 9,500 stars down to mag.6.55
• Milky Way: Diffuse
  • Optional: approx. 10,000,000 micro-stars

• ​Orpheus
• Dome diameter range: 8 ～ 40 ft
  • Horizontal or Tilted Dome / Option: up to 52 ft
• Standard seating: approx. 60 ～ 140 seats
• Number of Fixed Star: 9,500 down to mag. 6.55
• Milky Way: approx. 40,000,000 stars down to including mag.17.5

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​Aetherios

◆ Extremely small, lightweight, and easy to set up
 - It is 280mm (11inch) diameter, 18kgs (40lbs) and can even be used for outreach and mobile planetariums. 
◆ A realistic sky and full hybrid capability at an affordable price - 
Available for domes up to 12m (40ft). Bright sharp stars (9500 stars downto 6.55 mag.), 3 million stars in the Milky Way, 
117+ Deep Sky objects, Variable stars and more. 
◆ Flexible control 
- Fully controllable through the control panel, software programming, tablet device, or any combination. 
◆ GOTO quality 
- Same quality and craftsmanship as the GOTO projectors for larger domes.