Galactic Center VR

Galactic Center VR takes you inside a NASA supercomputer simulation of the region within a few light-years of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. You can fly around the simulation to view the orbiting stars, their stellar winds and the X-rays those winds emit.

The simulation

The stars orbiting Sagittarius A* blow stellar winds into space. When these winds collide, they heat to tens of millions of degrees and glow in X-rays. The simulation shows the winds and X-rays detected by space telescopes such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Explore the region

You can scale down the simulation to fit within your VR play area and walk around the center of the galaxy. View stellar winds, X-rays or both, and examine the contribution from one stellar wind at a time. A tutorial explains the simulation and provides background information for visitors without an astronomy background.

About the simulation

Astrophysicists at the Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago, created the experience.