Having the computer on my face for 40 minutes was one of the reasons why I was sweating a bit. But the virtual reality tour of the Universe I just took, including visits to the Sun’s immediate vicinity, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, and the hellscape of an exoplanet 41 light-years away, gave me another excuse to feel the heat.
Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience It is a 40-minute astronomy path. This He made his debut in Washington in May with solo adult tickets now ranging from $29-$35 and group tickets of four or more starting at $18 each (all now 15 percent off); later this year it will also open in Denver, Orlando, Florida and San Antonio, Texas. I stopped by on a Monday in June to receive it.
After a bit of flying, which consisted of setting up preferences such as writing a caption and signing a waiver, I had enough time to sit on a bench next to the exhibition area (this hosted other VR experiences) another participant wearing a VR headset said “Oh my God!”
After putting on the HTC Vive Focus 3 headset and receiving an introductory tutorial on how to navigate the exhibition space, the tour began. My virtual self was standing under the glittering night sky A multi-mirror telescope at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Whipple Observatory.
The stars in my VR night were big and bright, but noticeably blurry when I moved my head. I was wondering what kind of headphones are newer this is a 2021 vintage model would execute; in other cities, Starstruck customers will be introduced to HTC’s newer product Vive Focus Visionand the DC exhibit will switch to that model at some point.
