If exploring the Universe has always been one of your dreams, you might start using what’s available right now and try one of the many simulators out there. Some are very technical and require a good understanding of cosmology, others are more accessible and a real (visual) treat. Here’s a short (and by no means) complete list of websites.
SpaceEngine, as described on the page, “is a realistic virtual Universe you can explore on your computer. You can travel from star to star, from galaxy to galaxy, landing on any planet, moon, or asteroid with the ability to explore its alien landscape. You can alter the speed of time and observe any celestial phenomena you please.” Download it here, the old versions are free.
Universe Sandbox ² is a physics-based space simulator for education purposes. It merges gravity, climate, collision, and material interactions. Unfortunately, it does not come for free, but some Universities and public libraries have their copies.
100,000 Stars is a rather amazing Chrome-powered simulator. It is an interactive 3D visualization of the stellar neighbourhood, including over 100000 nearby stars. Try it here.
Kerbal Space Program, commonly abbreviated as KSP, is a space flight simulation videogame with a fictional universe…that works very much like ours. Definitively worth a try.
Finally, for the astrophysicists out there, there’s IllustrisTNG a project that’s considered the state-of-the-art cosmological galaxy formation simulations. “The standard model of cosmology posits that the mass-energy density of the Universe is dominated by unknown forms of dark matter and dark energy.
Testing this extraordinary scenario requires precise predictions for the formation of structure in the visible matter, which is directly observable as stars, diffuse gas, and accreting black holes. These components of the visible matter are organized in a ‘Cosmic Web’ of sheets, filaments, and voids, inside which the basic units of cosmic structure – galaxies – are embedded. To test our current ideas on the formation and evolution of galaxies, we strive to create simulated galaxies as detailed and realistic as possible, and compare them to galaxies observed in the real universe. By probing our successes and failures, we can further enhance our understanding of the process of galaxy formation, and thereby perhaps realize something fundamental about the world in which we live.” To visit the project, see this.
Amazing, isn’t it? By the way, I have also written in the past about the planetarium software out there. In case you’re interested, here they are.
Fascinating…. 🙂
Yes, and it gets better year after year 😀