Stroll Through the Stars at Smithsonian’s New VR Exhibit
▼ Summary
– The author experienced a 40-minute virtual reality tour of the Universe, which included visits to the Sun, the galaxy’s black hole, and a distant exoplanet.
– “Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience” debuted in Washington, DC, in May, with ticket prices ranging from $29 to $35 for solo adults and group discounts.
– The exhibit will open in Denver, Orlando, and San Antonio later in the year, and currently offers a 15 percent discount on tickets.
– The author observed another attendee reacting with excitement while using a VR headset before their own tour began.
– The VR tour used an HTC Vive Focus 3 headset, which caused stars to blur when the author moved their head, and newer models will be used in other cities.
Having a computer strapped to my face for 40 minutes was enough to work up a sweat. But the real heat came from the journey itself: a virtual tour of the Universe that brought me within scorching distance of the Sun, plunged me into the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, and dropped me onto a hellish exoplanet 41 light-years away.
Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience is a 40-minute astronomy walk-through that launched in Washington, DC, this May. Individual adult tickets now range from $29 to $35, with group rates for four or more starting at $18 each (all currently discounted by 15 percent). Later this year, the exhibit will expand to Denver, Orlando, and San Antonio. I visited on a Monday in June to see what all the cosmic fuss was about.
The onboarding process included setting preferences like closed captioning and signing a waiver. With a few minutes to spare, I sat on a bench near the exhibit space, which has hosted other VR experiences before. Watching another attendee in a headset suddenly blurt out, “Oh my God!” was a promising preview.
Once I donned an HTC Vive Focus 3 headset and received quick coaching on navigating the space, the tour began. My virtual self stood beneath a glittering night sky at the Multiple Mirror Telescope at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Whipple Observatory. The stars were big and bright, but they blurred noticeably whenever I moved my head. That made me wonder how a newer headset might have performed. In other cities, Starstruck patrons will use the Vive Focus Vision, a more recent HTC model, and the DC exhibit plans to upgrade to that device eventually.
(Source: Ars Technica)
