Deep Space Explorer

• Platform:    Windows, Macintosh
• Media: CD-ROM
• Item Quantity: 1

The range of the programme gives a hint of the sheer enormity of space. With this software you can travel anywhere within 700 million light years of Earth--probably enough for most of us--visiting 28,000 galaxies and 30,000 individual stars. Navigating through the deep blackness, you find yourself within the silvery whirl of a spiral galaxy--a beautiful and unusual virtual experience.

In addition to this extraordinary, and literally otherworldly, voyage, Deep Space Explorer provides important sources of information, with hyperlinks connecting to Internet sites which provide more material about the locations which you are visiting, and multimedia tutorials from a professional astronomer on current cosmological theory and a wide range of topics in astrophysics. These give an interesting understanding of the nature of black holes, galactic collisions, and ideas as to the nature of the big bang--while being perfectly accessible to the layperson. This also means that in each of the 28,000 galaxies you enter, the most up-to-date information about this star-collection is available at the click of a mouse.

This combination of disparate learning and an intense virtual exploration of space is difficult to beat. Computers can do many wonderful things, but surely bringing the extent of the universe to so many more people is among them--now it is no longer necessary to travel to observatories in the American deserts or the Chilean Andes to gain some understanding of the most distant stars. --Toby Green

Manufacturer's Description
From the Starry Night family of astronomy software products, Deep Space Explorer is the first program for the home user that accurately models the wonders of the universe in all their three-dimensional glory. Astronomer Brent Tully has compiled a new database of 30,000 galaxies, which has never before been available in a desktop astronomy program. Each of these galaxies is sized, positioned, and rotated correctly, allowing users to see the clusters, filaments, and voids that dominate the large-scale structure of the universe. A special "spaceship" mode lets users fly through this strange world, traveling hundreds of millions of light years from Earth.

Complementing the three-dimensional simulator is Deep Space Explorer's special media player, which explains the workings of the universe in more than an hour of live-action video, narrated by Star Trek: Deep Space 9 actress Chase Masterson. Learn about extra solar planets, the formation of our solar system, and much more.

• Software > Budget Software
• Software > Children's Fun & Learning > Activities & Interests > Science & Nature
• Software > Education & Reference > Reference > Science & Nature
• Software > Software under £10