Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

Kickstarter 'universe in a sphere' is a desk ornament designed to awe you

By

universe in a sphere kickstarter
Image used with permission by copyright holder
There is a scene at the end of Men in Black, in which it’s revealed that our entire galaxy may, in fact, be nothing more than swirls in a toy marble played with by some incomprehensibly giant alien.

If that scene stuck with you the way it has with us, you may appreciate a new Kickstarter project called — with a minimum of fuss — “The Universe in a Sphere.” In essence, it’s what it says on the tin: a glass sphere, containing a hyper-detailed 3D representation of not just our own galaxy, but a hefty chunk of the observable universe as we know it.

Recommended Videos

For those keeping track at home, that’s a whole lot of stars.

Related

“What I did was is to take a catalog of galaxies, including our home supercluster called Laniakea, converted the XYZ coordinates and selected all of the 675,758 galaxies in a radius of 125 megaparsecs,” creator Clemens Steffin told Digital Trends. “One megaparsec stands for about 3.2616 million light years, so the cloud in my glass sphere represents a diameter of 815,400,000 light years.”

Steffin next searched for (and found) a company capable of lasering in each one of these 380,000 dots, each representing an entire galaxy, into a glass sphere. After that, he launched his Kickstarter.

“When you realize that there are so many galaxies that they themselves start to form moving structures that appear like natural beings of their own, you stare into the sphere and can’t help but realizing how tiny you are in the face of these enormous structures,” he continued. “You start wondering whether these could form even larger structures. You open your mind up to the stupendously gigantic dimension of our universe before you realize that this sphere only represents 0.0000675 percent of the observable universe!”

So what exactly do you do with this object once you receive it? “A beautiful way of displaying the sphere is to illuminate it,” Steffin said. “I hope that many backers build or buy themselves rotating LED stands that can project the inner structure of the sphere onto a wall. I imagine, however, that most backers will be happy to just lie on their beds, staring into the sphere, wondering how many beautiful wonders may await us in such a vast universe.”

Steffin’s Universe in a Sphere is available for pre-order, with a single unit costing starting at $41.50.

Shipping is set to take place in February — or, to put it in universe terms, a tiny, tiny fraction of the blink of an eye.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Luke Dormehl
Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
The 11 best Father’s Day deals that you can get for Sunday
Data from a workout showing on the screen of the Apple Watch Series 8.

Father's Day is fast approaching and there's still time to buy your beloved Dad a sweet new device to show him how much you love him. That's why we've rounded up the ten best Father's Day tech deals going on right now. There's something for most budgets here, including if you're able to spend a lot on your loved one. Read on while we take you through the highlights and remember to order fast so you don't miss out on the big day.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 -- $200, was $230

While it's the Plus version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 that features in our look at the best tablets, the standard variety is still worth checking out. Saving your Dad the need to dig out their laptop or squint at a small phone screen, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 offers a large 10.5-inch LCD display and all the useful features you would expect. 128GB of storage means plenty of room for all your Dad's favorite apps as well as games too. A long-lasting battery and fast charging save him the need for a power source too often too.

Read more
The Apollo wearable is proven to help you sleep better (and it’s on sale)
Apollo wearable worn during sleep in bed.

This content was produced in partnership with Apollo Neuro.
Stress, anxiety, and insomnia are all concerning things that just about everyone struggles with at one time or another. Maybe you can sleep, fending off insomnia, but you lack quality sleep and don’t feel rested in the morning. Or, maybe when it’s time to kick back and relax, you just can’t find a way to do so. There are many solutions for these issues, some work, and others don’t, but one unlikely area of support can be found in a modern, smart wearable.

Medicine is the obvious choice, but not everyone prefers to go that route. There is an answer in modern technology or rather a modern wearable device. One such device is the Apollo wearable, which improves sleep and stress relief via touch therapy. According to Apollo Neuro, the company behind the device, which is worn on your ankle, wrist or clipped to your clothing, it sends out waves of vibrations to help your body relax and reduce feelings of stress. It's an interesting new approach to a common problem that has typically been resolved via medicine, therapy, or other more invasive and time-consuming techniques. The way it utilizes those vibrations, uniquely placed and administered, to create a sense of peace, makes us ask, can it really cure what ails us? We’ll dig a little deeper into how it achieves what it does and what methods it’s using to make you feel better.

Read more
What comes after Webb? NASA’s next-generation planet-hunting telescope
An illustration shows how NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory would measure the atmosphere of distant planets.

When it comes to building enormous, complex space telescopes, agencies like NASA have to plan far in advance. Even though the James Webb Space Telescope only launched recently, astronomers are already busy thinking about what will come after Webb — and they've got ambitious plans.

The big plan for the next decades of astronomy research is to find habitable planets, and maybe even to search for signs of life beyond Earth. That's the lofty goal of the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a space telescope currently in the planning phase that is aimed at discovering 25 Earth-like planets around sun-like stars.

Read more