Is OVERVIEW scientifically accurate?
When designing Overview, accuracy was one of our main concerns. We did not want Overview to end up being just a beautiful, awesome, virtual reality experience. We wanted astronomers and astrophysicists to be able to enjoy the show without any reservation. We wanted educators and parents to feel confident that their charges were in good (scientific) hands. We wanted the general public to enjoy the experience knowing that every single celestial body – the planets, the comets, the moons – was right where it should be, on a correct orbit, and perfectly to scale.
How is it possible?
This was no simple feat. In fact, it was astronomically difficult – but that was to be expected! Overview is powered by SpaceEngine, which is developed by Vladimir Romanyuk and relies on the data gathered by its community and many different sources, such as ESA’s star machine, Hipparcos, or NASA’s Solar System Dynamics group.
Where does the data come from?
We mostly have to thank the JPL HORIZONS on-line solar system data and ephemeris computation service for the orbits and scale of Solar System objects, such as the 8 planets and their 190 satellites, the Sun, and hundreds of asteroids and comets, but for additional thoroughness, Overview also relies on astrometric observations validated by the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center.
Stars mainly come from Hipparcos, Europe’s very first astrometry mission; its goal was to measure the positions, distances, motions, brightness and colours of over 100 thousand stars. The results were published as a set of catalogues which we’ve used, in particular, as the backdrop of our Solar System. A precise and accurate backdrop, as seen from the Earth or any other point of our system, and a realistic basis for the content of our galaxy the Milky Way!
So everything in OVERVIEW is real?
To be fully honest, we did add a few more stars in the Milky Way chapter, to avoid traveling through unrealistically empty spaces, and we also used an artificial nebula to illustrate the life cycle of stars. Yet even this is faithful to our current knowledge of space. In fact, the only true inaccuracy in Overview is the speed at which you move around the Universe (up to billions of times faster than the speed of light!), but considering how vast it is, this is exactly where the added value of virtual reality lies. Like we had envisioned, Overview lets you comprehend the scale of our Milky Way and feel awed by the beauty and intricacy of it all from the comfort and safety of your home!