ZEISS Planetarium Talks

Anika Smolinski, Star Threader

After leaving school in 1995, I applied for jobs all over Jena and the region. I had already been accepted by a company where I would have been trained as a porcelain painter. Three days before I was due to start, ZEISS called and I got an apprenticeship as a precision optician. After 3.5 years of training, my instructors decided that I was well suited to the job of threading stars. I could not do anything with this at first, as I came from the round optics area where work is mainly performed on machines. However, in hindsight, this was absolutely right because threading stars is a pure craft and requires a lot of dexterity. I love this work with really small and delicate parts.

I received on-the-job training from the star threader at the time, who was about to retire. There were so many things to think about as every projector is different – but I love a challenge. For the new Asterion projector, I helped develop the threading process and created a timetable, as the projector is much smaller. This means that just as many stars have to be accommodated in less space. We were even able to automate one work step.

In the past, the stars were pierced into a copper disk, but now the stars are glass fibers that I thread into a hole under a microscope using tweezers. This hole is one of many that were previously shot into a plate using a laser. To date, we have manufactured over 50 ZKP4 projects. Each planetarium projector consists of another 32 hand-made smaller fixed star projectors. This means that I have threaded over 300,000 stars in the last 23 years. Almost every ZEISS planetarium in the world uses my threaded stars. There is something very special about that.

Martin Kraus, Head of ZEISS Planetariums

I studied mechanical engineering at Aalen University and wrote my thesis on machine elements in a CAD system. Then I saw a job advertisement from industrial metrology at ZEISS, which was looking for a software developer whose job precisely matched the topic of my thesis. I applied, even though I didn't have a degree in computer science, and was hired as a software development engineer in 1986. After five years, I joined the central development services in the research department. That was 1991, the year when ZEISS in Jena and Oberkochen merged.

The development services in particular had to coordinate a lot, for example standardizing the numbering system so that the Development departments could work according to the same processes. As a result, I have always had an eye on the Planetariums division, whose product relocation to Jena I was also involved in. Back then, I would never have believed that I would one day be in charge of this division. In 2001, I joined Medical Technology. I was previously able to qualify for a management program and worked there for a total of 17 years in various positions, most recently as Head of Operations in Jena. In 2018, the position of Head of Planetariums was advertised. However, I kept my application in a drawer for a few weeks because I was worried about my chances. But then everything happened very quickly.

With 30 employees, we are certainly almost the smallest ZEISS division, but one with a very large external impact. Of course, I travel a lot, attend meetings, conferences and visit planetariums. For me, the customers are one of the best things about the planetariums business. They are people from the cultural or scientific sector who have a passion and strive to bring it to life. When I'm at the congresses, it's an informal atmosphere, simply a very friendly community. And the topic of stars and space inspires everyone, including me. I often think to myself: don't I have a great job? I even get paid to go to the planetarium.

Matthias Herold, Head of Production & Logistics for Planetariums

After graduating from high school, I was in the German army for a short period of time. Shortly before becoming an officer, I realized that I was more likely to get satisfaction from a job in the private sector. So I decided to study industrial engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Jena. My first compulsory internship also took me to ZEISS for the first time as part of mechanical production. While writing my thesis, I was also a working student in the Planetariums division, where I helped out at the secretary's office and had contact with all divisions, colleagues and many customers. In 2008, I was hired as a permanent employee on a trainee contract.

After around three years, I had the honor of being appointed Head of Assembly and have been responsible for production and logistics in this division ever since. I was and am not an astronomy fanatic, but seeing the optomechanical starry sky on the dome absolutely fascinates me every time. My eyes lit up during my first visit to the planetarium in Jena. Even after numerous service and installation jobs for customers, the moment when the lights go out and the stars start to move across the dome is still the best part of the whole job. Contact with our customers is very important to me in my job as Head of Production and Logistics. That way, you always learn something new about your work.

One of my favorite experiences in the division so far was the conversion to LED at the Berlin Planetarium. It was my first really big assignment out in the field, working on our large device and on the weekend before the planetarium opened. There really wasn't much time and nothing could go wrong. Seeing the stars with the new LED lighting in even greater sharpness was absolutely a breathtaking wow moment – for me and for the customer. At Planetariums, we manage to bring the infinite vastness of the universe and all its facets into domes of every size and thus make it more tangible for people. It's a great feeling and fills you with pride.

Sebastian Schmitt, Designer

After my apprenticeship as a technical drawer, I completed a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Jena. As a young professional, my first stop was an engineering office in Weimar. I wanted to work for a big company, so I applied for a job at ZEISS. In October 2018, I started working as a detail designer in the Planetariums division. Today I am a designer. I was sent on a business trip to Nagoya in Japan during my second year at the company. While there, I was able to take over the maintenance of the Universarium in the world's largest planetarium dome. Standing there was overwhelming. That was my best experience so far, and I've been a big fan of Japan ever since. That's the beauty here at ZEISS: you don't just do work that is found in your job description, but also lots of other tasks.

I remember the first time I went to the Jena Planetarium when I was eight years old. Even back then I wondered how the projector in the middle was assembled. I thought it was amazing how the giant sphere with all the lenses moved and conjured up the stars on the dome. Now I'm sitting here, 26 years later, and I'm one of the designers who invents these projectors. I would never have dared to dream that big.

The most fascinating thing about my job is the moment when you put a projector into operation for the first time. When you switch on the light of the projector, you see so many stars appear above you within just a few seconds. Unfortunately, in our light-polluted cities today, we can see very little of our Milky Way and the many thousands of visible stars. We probably wouldn't even know what is going on in our skies without the technology we invent. I am therefore delighted that we are able to provide an unadulterated view of a natural night sky thanks to our projection.