Starsight VR development project

StarsightVR project leader Alastair Bruce, with Edinburgh astronomer Chelsea MacLeod pointing out the stars she can see with the headset.

StarsightVR aims at running live virtual reality stargazing shows, both in person and over the internet.  The project got a start in 2014-16 with a small grant from STFC, supplemented by ROE Trust funding, which allowed us to adapt the Stellarium planetarium software for use with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, and add features which allowed us to run in a master-slave configuration, so that we could run a presenter-led astronomy show. We ran this system live at a variety of venues, including the Edinburgh International Science Festival, and everybody loved it. 

The project fell into abeyance because key staff moved on to pastures new, but we are very keen to get it going again and fulfil the original ambitions.  In the years since 2016, Virtual Reality Technology has moved on considerably. There both cheaper and simpler headsets, and more complex and high performing ones, and there is some very nice commercially available stargazing software. We recently purchased some Meta Quest headsets, and have used them in small-scale outreach events. However, what we really want to do is return to our original vision of large-scale presenter led stargazing events. To achieve this we need to either find partners to help develop and implement such activities, or funds for part-time staff.

If you are interested, get in touch!