Deep Space Explorer

by Imaginova

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005RD73
• Item model number: DSE-1-CIU
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 4, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,324 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #21 in Software > Education & Reference > Science
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Deep Space Explorer is a CD-ROM package that takes stargazing a step further, perhaps a little in the mold of the Starship Enterprise--like Star Trek, the package allows us to venture into uncharted celestial territories without leaving home. Using excellent graphics and color images of stars and moons, the software places the user at the helm of their very own "starship," allowing them to navigate into the outer reaches of the universe.

The range of the program gives a hint of the sheer enormity of space. With this software you can travel anywhere within 700 million light years of Earth--probably enough for most of us--visiting 28,000 galaxies and 30,000 individual stars. Navigating through the deep blackness, only to find yourself in the silvery whirl of a spiral galaxy, is a beautiful and unusual virtual experience.

In addition to this extraordinary--and literally otherworldly--voyage, though, Deep Space Explorer provides important sources of information, with links connecting to Internet sites that provide more material about the locations you are visiting and multimedia tutorials from a professional astronomer on current cosmological theory and a wide range of topics in astrophysics. These give an interesting understanding of the nature of black holes, galactic collisions, and ideas about the big bang--while being perfectly accessible to the layperson. They also mean that in each of the 28,000 galaxies that you enter the most up-to-date information about this star collection is available at the click of a mouse.

This combination of disparate learning and intense virtual exploration of space is difficult to beat. Computers can do many wonderful things, and surely bringing the extent of the universe to so many more people is among them. Now it is no longer necessary to travel to observatories in the American deserts or the Chilean Andes to gain some understanding of the distant stars. --Toby Green

Amazon.com Product Description

From the Starry Night family of astronomy software products, Deep Space Explorer is the first program for the home user that accurately models the wonders of the universe in all their three-dimensional glory. Astronomer Brent Tully has compiled a new database of 30,000 galaxies, which has never before been available in a desktop astronomy program. Each of these galaxies is sized, positioned, and rotated correctly, allowing users to see the clusters, filaments, and voids that dominate the large-scale structure of the universe. A special "spaceship" mode lets users fly through this strange world, traveling hundreds of millions of light years from Earth.

Complementing the three-dimensional simulator is Deep Space Explorer's special media player, which explains the workings of the universe in more than an hour of live-action video, narrated by Star Trek: Deep Space 9 actress Chase Masterson. Learn about extrasolar planets, the formation of our solar system, and much more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Galaxies only, April 11, 2002

By 

Some Guy (Redwood City, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Space Explorer (CD-ROM)

I was really looking forward to getting my hands on this, but was a bit disappointed.
First, the good news - the 3D views of galaxies are really special, and zooming from one to the next can be real fun, as is slowing down for some lazy flybys of any that particularly strike my fancy. The animations are great, too.
My only complaint is that this is a bit limited in scope. I would kill for some good 3D explorations of nebulae ("flying" along the pillars of the Eagle nebulae or among the cometary knots of the Helix nebulae would be worth any price), but this concentrates almost entirely on galaxies. Once you get to one there isn't really anything to do except fly around it.
You don't even get to play around inside our own Milky Way other than zooming into the Sun.
If you buy this strictly for the galaxies and the fact that everything is real, you'll certainly enjoy it. Just don't expect any suprise and delight.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good entertainment and learning package, January 19, 2002

By 

Shawn Ruse (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Space Explorer (CD-ROM)

The pros are it has a lot of information about the physical universe. The 3d views and mini movies are great. The cons are it has a lot of controls so children might find it a little overwhelming. Once you get the hang of the program it is great. I am very happy with this purchase and if I had to do it again I would. So if you are patient and have a couple of hours to learn how to use the program then anyone who wants to know about the planets and universe would benefit from this program.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing sense of scale!, July 27, 2002

By 

David A. Douthett "d2presby" (Charles Town, WV, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep Space Explorer (CD-ROM)

I really enjoyed this program. I agree with the other reviews I read here, that it has a lot of controls to figure out and it is just a bunch of galaxies. On the other hand, no one knows much about what's inside those galaxies and I bet nebulae and such will appear in version 2.0!
The movies and tech talk are very informative, and interesting even if you know most of it. You need to have the CD in for those, but you can run the simulation program just from your hard-drive, which is cool.
The best thing about this program is the sense of scale you get in the simulation. You have to be travelling at ludicrous speed, like a billion billion times the speed of light to get anywhere in a descent amount of time. The universe is a really big place -- perhaps one of the biggest!
I recommend this program for the educational mini-movies and the thrill of piloting around 30,000 galaxies. It is well-executed, fun, mind-opening, and awe-inspiring.