The Interactive Universe is an educational tool which uses three-dimensional computer models to explain concepts in astronomy. It was inspired by the popular film and book called the Powers of Ten and the new Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The Powers of Ten takes you on a tour of the universe, starting at the largest structure known, the super clusters of galaxies, and then shows you successively small, and smaller views of the universe, all the way down to the smallest microbe on the earth and even as far as the quantum level of quarks. In the Interactive Universe you see the Universe at six different levels: the Earth-Moon system, the Solar System, the Nearby Stars, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Local Galaxies, and the Universe as a whole. By experiencing the models for each of these six levels, a student can better visualize the Earth's place in the Universe. And hopefully this will make learning alot more fun that with just a dry, two-dimensional textbook.
The three-demensional VRML models used in the Interactive Universe are what give this project its extra spark. Each of the six levels has an associated model which gives insite to that level of the Universe. To interact with the models you need to download (for free) on the internet a VRML browser. With the browser, you can zoom in and out from the model as well as fly around to view the objects (planets, galaxies, etc.) from any angle you like.
To keep these models as accurate as possible, published data and catologs were consulted during their creation. For example, the Nearby Stars model contains all 3803 stars in the Gleise Catalog of stars within 25 parsec from us. Each star is in its correct distance and angle from the sun, with the sun in the center of the model. Also, the color of each of the dots representing a star in the model corresponds to the actual color (or spectral type, as measured) of the actual star.
My contribution to the Interactive Universe was in the area of text development. For each of the six levels covered in this educational tool there are pages of text to help explain what the student is seeing in the model as well as other additional information pertaining to that section. I have been adding to the glossary of terms associated with the pages. I have also added links to additional pages of created at different sites which explain addition material. During this summer I have worked on 27 of the 53 pages in the Interactive Universe (51% of the total). I created 17 of the pages (32%). I have also worked on the navigation of the web system, to make it easier for the student to find their way through the Interactive Universe.
When this project is completed the web pages will be accessible by everyone through the world wide web. It will also be produced in CD-ROM format to be distributed to schools. Currently all of the text is written at a high school reading level. In the final version of this project, there will be seperate sets of pages for different age levels. The final version will be tested by educators at the Owens Science Center.