Today we remember Galileo as one of the great early astronomers, but he spent the last six years of his life under arrest for astronomical observations that challenged the beliefs of his time, but which four centuries later are accepted scientific truths. Two centuries after Galileo’s death, the beliefs that caused his house arrest were commonly accepted and William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse built the Leviathon of Parsonstown, the largest telescope ever made; it remained the largest for seventy-five years, until the Hooker Telescope was constructed in the United States in 1917.

These and other events are commemorated in Second Life as part of the ongoing International Year of Astronomy, being celebrated in 140 countries. You can visit the courtyard of the house where Galileo lived under house arrest, and you (or at least your avatar!) can climb through the mammoth gothic stone arches and wooden scaffolding that housed the Leviathan of Parsonstown in Second Life. You see the Second Life version in the first picture.
 

 

In Second Life, the International Year of Astronomy is being celebrated in the Astronomy 2009 sim, which is in a cluster of science-oriented islands known as SciLands. There is a section devoted to astrophotography, with photographs on display that show both distance objects in space as well as scenes on Earth, such as two photographs from Iran, one showing the moon behind the surviving columns of the ruins of Persepolis and the other a striking long-exposure shot showing stars’ motion over a barren landscape.

In addition to astrophotography, there is a gallery of space art, often fanciful visions of the future and of space. One display is shown in the second photo. You can also watch podcasts about astronomy and a movie about the history of the telescope, though neither was working the day I visited.

 

There are also over three hundred space-themed textures available for free; some of them are shown in the picture on the right.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, star parties at California’s Chico Observatory will be streamed into Second Life to the observatory area in Astronomy 2009.

Other features of Astronomy 2009 are the holodeck, in which you can materialize either the courtyard of the house where Galileo lived under house arrest or an urban street where you can experiment with different types of lighting.

Second Life members can experience the International Year of Astronomy by teleporting to slurl.com/secondlife/Astronomy%202009/130/215/32, You can also get on a list to learn of upcoming events by clicking on one of the informational kiosks that you’ll find all over Astronomy 2009.

The activities in Second Life of the New Media Consortium (NMC) are too diverse and too numerous to do justice to by writing about it in a single blog, so over coming weeks, I’ll be highlighting some of its exhibits and features. This educational collaboration between 125 colleges and universities includes over 100 regions in Second Life.

My topic today is the Storm Eye immersive art exhibit, a creation of Desdemona Enfield and Douglas Story (Dennis Schaefer in real life). The exhibit consists of about a thousand primitives, each with a moviing picture texture, and accompanied by very rich sound effects that include thunder, rain, and chirping birds.

 

When you first teleport to Storm Eye, you are almost 500 meters above NMC’s Aho Museum. You are in a deep red world, with a red path winding its way upward to what looks like a blue and white vortex, except that it’s stationary. Before going any further, make certain you’ve followed the instructions to turn up your audio to max and to enable media playback. Without these, it won’t be much of an experience. Also be sure to get one of the free umbrellas if you don’t want your av to get wet! When you’re ready, walk up the path into the vortex, and be ready for an experience.

 

Once inside, you are surrounded by 1,000 prims of video and audio looping in a 4-1/2 minute cycle of rain, lighting and thunder alternating with blue sky and birds singing. If you have headphones, use them. The audio is key to enjoying this exhibit.

When you’re ready to leave, you can’t just walk back out. You have to find the tornado and click on it.. Its location isn’t immediately evident at first, just a semi-transparent image. Once you find it, click on it and you will be immediately teleported back to the red world immediately outside.

If you’re a Second Life member, you can teleport to Storm Eye by clicking slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Campus%20West/91/86/501. If you’re not a Second Life member, you can watch a shortened, 1.5 minute version of the experience on the Storm Eye blog.

The King Tut exhibit is currently on a tour of the United States and Canada, but you can get a taste of it without leaving your home by visiting King Tut Virtual: SPECIAL PREVIEW in Second Life. It’s part of an experiment by Rezzable to explore the possibilities of using virtual world space. The "Preview" in the title suggests that there is more to come. What is there already is impressive.

When you first teleport there, you are on a landing pad over a globe showing Egypt and neighboring countrues on both sides of the Mediterranean. From there, you can teleport to Tutankhamun’s tomb, complete with an archeological dig outside, with tents, crates, and other items that might be found in a dig like this. An opening into the hillside leads down into the tomb, where you can see tomb paintings like those in the picture on the left. There are also a number of reproductions of ancient items, such as a chariot.

Besides the tomb, there are five other parts of the sim to which you can teleport. One is the Gallery, a museum-like display that cleverly implements the display of artifacts such as daggers, trumpets, and masks displayed in round display "cases". When you click on them, they enlarge outside the display case so you can examine them in detail. You see the trumpets and dagger in the third picture.

Another teleport destination is Amarna, a partial reproduction of an ancient Egyptian town. It’s moderately interesting. I hope Rezzable plans more for this. It would be interesting to see how some Egyptians actually lived. Just beyond Amarna, you’l find the Digital Alchemy Boutique, a shopping area where you can buy Egyptian-themed items such as clothing, jewelry, and skins.

 

The most impressive part is the least traditional as a "museum" display. In fact, it’s nothing like a museum display. When you teleport there, you are in space, stars all around, with a descending spiral of stars that you quickly realize is a walkway. Among the artififacts you can see floating among the stars is the Tutankhamun mask in the picture on the left above.

Rezzable’s done a good job so far. I hope they continue to expand this display. If you’re a Second Life member, you can visit the King Tut Preview exhibit in the King’s Rezzable sim by clicking slurl.com/secondlife/Kings%20Rezzable/199/157/23.