In the middle of a workday, when all you want to do is be miles away from where you are (the office), here is a way you could actually do that without leaving your chair.
No, we don’t propose wheeling yourself out. Instead, there is this cool website that Chrome has developed called 100,000 stars which can take you on a galactic tour in under 30 seconds, and then let you float free in space to discover stars and other bodies at your own leisure.
This interactive presentation begins at the Sun and pans out to reveal the solar system and other nearby (the term’s relative) bodies, like the nearest star system Alpha Centauri.
You may choose to halt the tour and learn more about each body by clicking on them. The data has been provided by multiple sources listed on the help section of the website.
A slider on the right hand side of the page allows you to discover space at your own pace. Yet the developers do not guarantee scientific accuracy: “Please do not use this website for inter-stellar navigation,” the developers (a bunch of space enthusiasts at Google) warn you. You can also pan using the mouse and zoom in and out using the mouse wheel.
The website is fun and puts things in perspective. What’s more, you also learn something, all the time accompanied by a meditative background music which suits a space exploration theme, but can get to you after a while, in which case you can switch it off (volume button is at the top right hand corner).
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