Updated

Updated · Smithsonian Magazine · Jun 12

Smithsonian Starstruck Debuts With 40-Minute VR Cosmos Tour, Eyeing 30 More Cities

Updated

Updated · Smithsonian Magazine · Jun 12

Smithsonian Starstruck Debuts With 40-Minute VR Cosmos Tour, Eyeing 30 More Cities

Q: Where does 'Starstruck' draw the line between scientific data and artistic license when visualizing an unseen supernova explosion?

It draws the line by treating Betelgeuse’s explosion as a hypothetical scene, but basing how it looks on real supernova data. Because Betelgeuse has not exploded, “Starstruck” cannot show a direct observation. That is where artistic license enters: the experience imagines the event itself. But the visual details are not invented freely. According to the project’s creators, the explosion’s colors and phases were modeled on Cassiopeia A, a well-studied supernova remnant observed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory through the Chandra X-ray Observatory. In practice, that means the scientific boundary is set by known astrophysics and by measurements from an actual exploded star. The team uses established data on how supernova remnants evolve, what structures they produce, and how they appear across wavelengths. The artistic part is using that evidence to reconstruct an event no one has yet seen in Betelgeuse itself, and to translate it into a dramatic, immersive VR sequence. So the balance is clear: the scenario is speculative, but the rendering is constrained by observed supernova behavior. “Starstruck” is not claiming to show Betelgeuse exactly as it will explode; it is showing a scientifically informed visualization of how such an explosion could unfold, grounded in Cassiopeia A and related astronomical research.

3 articles · Updated · Smithsonian Magazine · Jun 12

Washington, D.C., got the first showing of Smithsonian Starstruck on June 12, a 40-minute VR experience that lets visitors move through scenes from the sun’s surface to the Milky Way’s central black hole.
Fever and Smithsonian Enterprises built the show from Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory research and wider astronomy data, turning findings on exoplanets, supernovas and Sagittarius A* into interactive visuals.
Janssen, a scorching exoplanet where scientists think diamonds could form, is one stop; others include a scientifically modeled Betelgeuse supernova and a close pass by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
About 30 more cities are expected to host the experience later, as new observatories including the Giant Magellan Telescope and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope promise even richer imagery for future updates.