A remote virtual reality show led by University of Colorado graduate and top Smithsonian astronomers transports viewers to exploding stars and black holes while standing atop the James Webb Space Telescope and other space observatories.
“Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience” is a 1-hour show with 40-minute “free roam” virtual reality that will open in Denver and four other cities this summer. It depicts cosmic wonders using real astronomical data from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, NASA and the European Space Agency, said Dennis Elliott, executive chairman of Smithsonian Enterprises.
Producers chose Denver as one of the top five cities because of Colorado’s strong ties to space and astronomy, such as Paul Aerospace building the Webb Telescope’s 21-foot mirror. Lockheed Martin also developed the Webbs near-infrared camera, the primary instrument for capturing images of the telescope.
“Starstruck” opened June 12 in Washington, D.C., and so far has been enjoyed by a wide variety of people, including NASA officials, Elliott said. It is planned to eventually open in a total of 30 cities.
“I was a little nervous,” Elliott said with a laugh, recalling when NASA experts first donned the VR headsets. “But they’re like, ‘This is great!’ “
“Starstruck” opens in Denver on Thursday, August 13, and tickets go on sale on Thursday, June 18. They cost $21.75-$24.75 at feverup.com/m/659224. The experience is designed for ages 10 and up. Groups of six are launched every 3 minutes or so at an exhibition of about 100 people an hour, Elliott said.
The project was developed with global events-producer Fiver, which designs and stages “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” and other shows. It was operated in virtual reality by University of Colorado Leeds School of Business graduate Elliot Mizrock, who briefly visited the Fiske Planetarium while living in Boulder.
He minored in graphic design and computer graphics and has been working extensively with virtual reality and experimental technology for 15 years. This makes the free-roaming, interactive, 3D narrative of “Starstruck” a fascinating and deeply scientific endeavor for Mizrock.
“It’s really accessible, but there’s a lot of millimeter-precise hard science,” he said from Madrid, where he’s been working on the flu since 2024. “This film is really about the birth, life and death of stars, and these amazing 2D images take you into immersive places based on real data.”
The show was developed with top astrophysicists Randall Smith and Laura Brenneman of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who have a knack for turning dense scientific information into fun facts, Misroch added.
“Whether Randall told me growing up watching ‘Cosmos’ or hanging out in Fiske, when you look out into space at night, you think it’s this mystical, heavenly place, and there’s so much we don’t know,” Misroch said. “But he said, ‘No, we know many real places in the macro universe that have real addresses and real functions. Everything that happens in space has a purpose, and we can explain to you what that is.’ “
“Starstruck” is opening in other cities with strong ties to space and astronomy, including Denver, San Antonio and Orlando, as well as London and Manchester, England. (Fever maintains its own niche here for immersive experiences.) Elliott declined to share the project’s budget, but said it was a significant investment for Smithsonian Enterprises and the first VR exhibit for the institution.
“Starstruck” begins its run Thursday, Aug. 13 at the Fever Hub at York Street Yards, 3863 N. Steele St., Suite 1168. Experiences such as David Byrne and Mala Gonker’s “Theater of the Mind” were previously offered in the renovated brick complex. The program is fully accessible to people with disabilities including low vision and hearing impairment.
It’s not the first space-VR show to tour Denver: The International Space Station-themed “Space Explorers: The Infinite” played at Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace in 2024.
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