Sega Homestar Flux 2: Home Planetarium Review

What’s in the Box

The Flux 2 itself looks like a black sphere on a silver stand Death Star! There’s a large lens on top, while the front has a pull-out disc tray and several buttons. The body can also be tilted directly on the stand, letting you aim the image at the part of the ceiling you want.

The projector also comes with a folding disc case. Open it up and it unfolds like an accordion, with a separate pocket for each disc. There are four discs in total, but only three of them contain sky images. The fourth creates the twinkling-star effect and is used together with one of the other discs.

Along with the planetarium, I also received three Astrial sets in blue boxes: Aurora Borealis, Aurora with Trees, and Space Safari. Just keep in mind that these are not included with the projector, so you’ll have to buy them separately.

Discs and How to Install Them

Now, about those “cartridges.” The image depends on the disc you place in the tray: swap the disc and you get a different sky. Some effects need more than one disc, though, so in certain cases you have to install two at once.

The discs themselves come in thick and thin versions, while Aurora Borealis also includes a separate plastic insert with trees that goes on top.

It’s easier to explain with examples.

Two-disc setups work the same way in both cases, so I’ll first show the order using Aurora with Trees.

The Japanese sky setup works exactly the same way. First, pull out the tray and place the thick disc at the bottom with its wider side facing down and the narrower side facing up. The shape itself helps here, because it simply won’t sit in the tray the other way around.

Each disc also has text printed on it, which gives you another way to check the orientation. When the disc is sitting in the tray, the text should read normally. If it looks mirrored, the disc is upside down and needs to be flipped.

Now place the thin disc with the Japanese sky image on top of the thick one. Check the label on this disc as well, then slide the tray back in. That’s it — the two-disc twinkle setup is ready.

The thick disc is only needed for one of the images. The projector comes with three image discs: the Japanese sky with twinkling stars, the Milky Way, and another one where the constellations are already connected with lines. The thick disc is used only with the first one. The other two simply go into the tray on their own.

Aurora Borealis works a little differently. Here, you can place the separate plastic insert over the aurora disc to add forest silhouettes.

The insert stays still, so when the projection rotates, the aurora moves above the trees while the trees remain in place.

How to Use It

Now that the discs are sorted out, connect the power and move the POWER switch to ON. There are a few more buttons on the front panel for sky rotation, the shooting-star effect, and the timer.

The timer is straightforward: choose 15, 30, or 60 minutes, and the projector will switch itself off when the time is up. So you can turn on the night sky before bed without worrying that it will stay on until morning.

The MOVE button starts the sky rotation. N is meant for the Northern Hemisphere, while S is for the Southern Hemisphere, so the image moves in opposite directions in the two modes. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, choose N. Though if you simply want to watch the stars move, there isn’t much practical difference between the two.

If you turn it on and get blurry smudges instead of stars, the focus needs adjusting. Rotate the large ring around the lens and watch how the image changes. Sometimes you have to turn it quite a bit, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get a sharp image within the first full rotation. Eventually, the tiny stars should become crisp points of light.

If the sky ends up somewhere you don’t want it, you can change the projector’s angle. Loosen the side fastener, rotate the body on the stand, and point the lens where you need it. Then tighten the fastener again to lock the angle in place. If the image loses focus after that, give the ring on top another small adjustment.

And of course, this all looks best in a dark room, so turn off the lights and close the curtains. It’s also a good idea to pick a clear section of ceiling. A chandelier in the middle of the Milky Way rather ruins the effect. You’re trying to imagine that you’re lying under the open sky, and there it is, constantly intruding into view.

Twinkling Japanese Sky

Now let’s go back to the Japanese sky, where we placed two discs in the tray. Press MOVE to start the rotation, and the twinkling effect appears along with it.

The stars grow brighter and dimmer, sometimes almost disappearing before lighting up again. And they twinkle in different parts of the sky: while you’re looking at one area, other stars nearby are already beginning to glow. It looks genuinely impressive.

Just remember that the twinkling only works while the sky is rotating. Stop the rotation and the stars stop changing brightness as well. So if you’ve installed both discs but the sky isn’t twinkling, check whether rotation is enabled with the MOVE button.

Unfortunately, a normal photo can’t really show this effect. You can see the stars, but the whole point is watching them fade out and light up again. A video does a much better job.

Shooting Star

You can also add a shooting star to the rotating sky. Press the button with the shooting-star icon, and roughly once every thirty seconds a thin bright streak will cross the sky. The interval can vary a little from one appearance to the next, but the location always stays the same.

As with the twinkling effect, rotation must be enabled. If you stop it, the shooting star won’t appear either, even if the feature itself is turned on.

What the Different Discs Show

The Milky Way

We’ve already seen the Japanese sky and its twinkling effect, so now let’s look at the other discs. We’ll start with the Milky Way, which does a particularly good job of showing just how many tiny stars this projector can display.

The large, bright stars catch your eye first, but look more closely and you’ll find a whole scattering of tiny points between them. There are so many in the Milky Way band that they almost merge together. Even inside that band you can still make out individual stars, and the photo shows this quite well.

Constellations

With that many stars, though, good luck finding a familiar constellation. That’s why the set also includes a disc where the stars are already connected with lines. It makes it much easier to see where each shape is and which points belong to it. Otherwise, you can stare at the sky and still not be sure which stars you’re supposed to connect in your head and which ones just happen to be nearby.

Space Safari

Next come the optional sets, and Space Safari is one of the more amusing ones. Here, illustrated animals, planets, a satellite, and an astronaut float among the stars. There’s a monkey hanging onto a planet, a goat nearby, and a lion a little lower down. Basically, it turns the ceiling into an entire space zoo.

The stars are still there, and the constellations are still connected with lines. The only difference is the addition of large, colorful illustrations. That makes this disc a good fit for a child’s room: you can look at the animals together and see who else has ended up on the ceiling.

Aurora Borealis

If you’d rather watch the Northern Lights, there’s Aurora Borealis. Broad blue and greenish bands of light stretch across the sky, with stars visible between them. The aurora covers almost the entire image, and with rotation enabled, it slowly moves across the ceiling.

This is where the plastic forest insert I showed earlier comes in. With it installed, tree silhouettes appear along the bottom, and they stay in place while the aurora moves above them. Which is a good thing, because otherwise the whole forest would start drifting around the ceiling along with the sky.

Aurora with Trees

There’s another Northern Lights set called Aurora with Trees, and this one puzzled me. The trees are already part of the main image, while the second piece is a purple disc with a wavy pattern. It’s supposed to add shimmering variations when the projection rotates, but the result is rather strange.

Without the purple disc, the aurora looks great: bright bands stretch above the trees, while white stars shine around them. Add the second disc, though, and you immediately want to take it back out. The image becomes dimmer, the green aurora almost disappears, and the entire sky is flooded with a pinkish-purple glow. Even the stars turn pink.

The shimmering effect does appear when the projection rotates, but I didn’t like it at all. What’s the point if the aurora itself becomes dim and almost entirely purple? As far as I’m concerned, this disc only makes the image worse.

And it looks especially odd after the Japanese sky, where the extra disc creates a very pleasant twinkling effect. Here they also added an effect, but the projection simply looks better without it.

Where to Buy Replacement Discs

If you like any of the optional sets, Homestar discs can be found on Ozon. But don’t buy the first disc you see with “Homestar” on the packaging: Sega has released several different home planetarium models. For the Flux 2, look for discs marked as compatible with Homestar Flux, Original, or Classic. All of the Astrial sets shown in this article are compatible.

Also, don’t mix up the two Northern Lights sets: Aurora Borealis and Aurora with Trees. Both the projection and the box contents are different. It’s best to search for the full name and always compare the listing with photos of what’s included.

Impressions

The twinkling Japanese sky was easily my favorite. It really does look excellent, and it’s nice that both discs needed for the effect are already included. You also get two more discs in the box: one shows the Milky Way, while the other helps you find constellations. So there’s already plenty to look at before you buy any optional sets.

That said, the brightest and most colorful images you saw in the photos come from the optional discs. The Northern Lights and the space zoo aren’t included with the projector, unfortunately, so you’ll need separate sets if you want those views.

Overall, the Flux 2 turned out to be far more interesting than a basic image projector. Turn off the lights, start the rotation, and a few minutes later you’re just lying there watching the stars slowly move and twinkle above you. That effect alone is probably the best reason to buy one.