Journey Into Space: The Virtual Experience

Quasars are the most luminous phenomena in space that we can see from Earth. They are enormous objects that are found in the center of galaxies and are caused by gas spiraling into black holes.

The Pillars of Creation is the birthplace of many stars. Each of the apparent pillars consist of cosmic dust and gases. These Pillars are bathed in ultraviolet light from local young stars. The solar winds from the mentioned stars gradually erode the Pillars away, compromising such a stellar sight.

Eclipses occur when a planetary body blocks the Sun’s rays, consequently casting a notable shadow, with the Sun’s rays being visible around the shadow-casting body. Two types of eclipses can be observed from Earth: the lunar eclipse, which requires the Earth to block sunlight from the moon (giving the moon a reddish-orange appearance) and the solar eclipse, which features the moon blocking sunlight from the Earth (casting a shadow down on us.) Either of these phenomena require a full moon.

Nebulas are the nursery of all stars and only occur when a new star is about to be created. Nebulas are enormous clouds of dust and gas that follow after a supernova. When stars are born, they send forth solar winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation, which sculpt the gaseous clouds into remarkable landscapes .

Dark matter makes up 80% of all matter in the universe. The intriguing part is that no scientist has ever seen it. Theoretically, all the stars, planets, galaxies and such would crumble in and scatter away from each other if dark matter didn’t exist.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a large satellite that orbits the Earth. It was launched in November of 1998 in two parts the unity node and the control module. It houses astronauts for months at a time while they perform experiments.