Digital Visualization Theater

Available Shows

The DVT has two types of shows available for request. The first are a series of professional quality narrated films that Notre Dame has purchased and are available for classroom use.

Video Shows

• Heart of the Sun – A dramatic exploration of the scientific aspects of the sun-earth interaction and its effects on human culture.

• Season of Light – Traces the astronomical associations origins of winter holidays from several cultures.

• Origins of Life – Describes the connections between the astronomical origins of the earth and the chemical elements that make up all life on earth.

• Infinity Express – A tour of the universe.

• Astronaut – An animated whimsical tour of the stresses an astronaut’s body must undergo for space flight.

Free-Form Shows

The second type is a free-form show narrated live by Notre Dame faculty or staff. This content is rendered in realtime for maximum flexibility and audience interaction. This type of show is better described by the content available than a title. Following is a brief discussion of the content we have available for live narration. Further details on the content can be found at the Hayden Planetarium’s Digital Universe and Sky Skan’s Digital Sky 2.

• The night sky and constellations, from any location on the globe and any time in history.

• A fully navigable accurate rendering of the solar system, with the planets and their moons, dwarf planets, and asteroids, that can be set to illustrate any time in history.

• The locations and orbits of many of the known exoplanets orbiting other stars.

• The three dimensional locations of thousands of stars and galaxies, that can be flown through.

• Illustrative graphics to help students understand the scale of the universe.

• Astronomical images of thousands of galaxies.