Having a computer stuck to my face for 40 minutes was one of the reasons I felt a little sweaty. But the tour of the Universe I had just received in virtual reality (including visits to the vicinity of the Sun, the giant black hole at the center of our galaxy, and the hellish landscape of an exoplanet 41 light years away) provided another excuse to feel some heat.
Smithsonian Starstruck: an immersive experience It is an astronomical tour of 40 minutes. He debuted in Washington, DC, in May with individual adult tickets now costing between $29 and $35 and tickets for groups of four or more starting at $18 each (all now discounted by 15 percent); will also open in Denver, Orlando, Florida and San Antonio, Texas, later this year. I spent a Monday in June taking it in.
After a bit of onboarding that included setting preferences like closed captioning and signing a waiver, I had enough time to sit on a bench next to the exhibit space (which has organized other virtual reality experiences) to enjoy watching another attendee with a virtual reality headset blurt out, “Oh my God!”
After putting on an HTC Vive Focus 3 headset and receiving introductory guidance on how to navigate the exhibition space, the tour began. My virtual self was standing under a bright night sky in the Multiple mirror telescope at the Whipple Observatory of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
The stars on my VR night were big and bright, but they blurred noticeably when I moved my head. I had to wonder how a newer headset would this vintage 2021 model would have performed; In other cities, Starstruck customers will get a newer HTC product, the Live Focus Visionand the DC exhibit will move to that model at some point.
