PlanetariumVR PC

Explore a dark night sky in virtual reality through this indie casual simulation. Learn positions of 110 Messier catalog objects and 103 bright stars via dedicated challenges. Play Star Sweeper, a Minesweeper-style game on a giant sphere under the stars, and browse hundreds of deep sky object images like nebulae and galaxies in gallery mode. Point at sky objects with controllers-Valve Index trigger, HTC Vive trigger, or Oculus Touch trigger-to reveal details amid 41,375 stars, planets, the Moon, and 88 constellations. Grids, planes, Bortle Scale effects, and location-time options enhance the planetarium view of catalogs including Caldwell, Herschel 400, NGC, IC, Arp, and Sharpless-2. Relax to classical pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Dvorak, Mussorgsky, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Amateur astronomers gain a real sense of deep sky object locations to prep observations.

Messier Challenge & Star Challenge

Learn the positions of the 110 objects from the Messier catalog.
Learn the positions of 103 bright stars.

Star Sweeper

Play Star Sweeper - like the Minesweeper - in a giant sphere in virtual reality under the night sky.

Gallery mode

Explore hundreds of images representing deep sky objects, such as nebulae and galaxies.

Planetarium

With light pollution, it is getting more difficult to fully appreciate the night sky, see the constellations, and determine the position of deep sky objects, from our pale blue dot. With this planetarium, you can learn and appreciate the beauty of a dark night sky. Amateur astronomers can prepare their observations by having a real sense of where deep sky objects are through virtual reality, without relying on a GoTo mount.

"Astronomy compels the soul to look upward, and leads us from this world to another." Plato, The Republic, 342 BCE.

Key features

• 41375 stars (apparent magnitude < 8)
  
• The planets of the Solar system and the Moon.
  
• 88 constellations
  
• Deep Sky Object Catalogs: Messier (110), Caldwell (109), and Herschel 400 (400), NGC (7840), IC (5386) , Arp (338), Sharpless-2 (313)
  
• Deep Sky Object images from surveys:
  
  • Original Digitized Sky Survey
    
  • 2nd Digitized Sky Survey (Red)
    
  • 2nd Digitized Sky Survey (Blue)
    
  • 2nd Digitized Sky Survey-Near Infrared
    
  • Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer 1, 2, 3, and 4.
• The Equatorial Grid, Azimuthal Grid, Ecliptic Plane, and Galactic Plane.
  
• Bortle Scale effect, location, and time options

Action

Point to objects in the sky to get information.

• Valve Index: Trigger
  
• HTC Vive: Trigger
  
• Oculus Touch: Trigger

Playlist

Music of J.S. Bach, Beethoven, G. Mahler, A. Dvorak, M. Mussorgsky, M. Ravel, and I. Stravinsky for relaxing.