{"id":712891,"date":"2026-06-19T04:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T04:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/712891\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T04:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T04:39:11","slug":"how-you-can-explore-the-cosmos-virtual-reality-style-in-a-new-smithsonian-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/712891\/","title":{"rendered":"How you can explore the cosmos, virtual reality style, in a new Smithsonian experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 5,000-square-foot Penn Quarter attraction was built from actual scientific data, with designers consulting real-life astrophysicists to conceptualize the dimensions of the known universe.<\/p>\n<p>This page contains a video which is being blocked by your ad blocker.<br \/>In order to view the video you must disable your ad blocker.<\/p>\n<p>Touch the stars without ever leaving the ground at this new Smithsonian VR experience in Penn Quarter<\/p>\n<p>Imagine being able to reach out and touch the stars without ever lifting off from the ground.<\/p>\n<p>A new immersive, 3D virtual reality experience from the Smithsonian offers guests a window into the cosmos \u2014 the first of its kind in D.C.<\/p>\n<p>In Thursday\u2019s episode of \u201cMatt About Town,\u201d WTOP\u2019s Matt Kaufax gets \u201cStarstruck!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 5,000-square-foot Penn Quarter attraction is a collaboration between events company Fever and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. It was built from actual scientific data, with designers consulting real-life astrophysicists to conceptualize the dimensions of the known universe.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re standing on the surface of the sun, encountering the event horizon of a black hole, or being whisked away to take in the Pillars of Creation, the sheer scale of this attraction will make guests feel like they\u2019re floating, and give a sense of wonder that emphasizes just how vast the universe is.<\/p>\n<p>Strap on a headset and check it out for yourself!<\/p>\n<p>Details on the experience can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.edu\/newsdesk\/releases\/smithsonian-starstruck-makes-its-world-premiere-washington-dc-launching-immersive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Smithsonian Starstruck\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hear \u201cMatt About Town\u201d first every Tuesday and Thursday on 103.5 FM.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatt About Town\u201d is now also on YouTube. Follow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WTOPNewsDC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">@WTOPNewsDC<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@TheMattAboutTown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">@TheMattAboutTown<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe and get the latest episodes wherever you are!<\/p>\n<p>If you have a story idea, you\u2019d like Matt to cover,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/matt-about-town\/2026\/06\/smithsonian-starstruck-experience-dc-vr-3d\/mailto:matt.kaufax@wtop.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">email him<\/a>, or chat with him on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mkaufax\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@themattabouttown\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Check out all \u201cMatt About Town\u201d episodes\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/local\/matt-about-town\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up <a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n<p>            <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 5,000-square-foot Penn Quarter attraction was built from actual scientific data, with designers consulting real-life astrophysicists to conceptualize&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[53414,107228,307346,79,307347,307348,96136,8371,179],"class_list":["post-712891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-cosmos","tag-matt-kaufax","tag-pillars-of-creation","tag-science","tag-smithsonian-astrophysical-observatory","tag-star-gazing","tag-the-smithsonian-institution","tag-universe","tag-virtual-reality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}