Google Chrome explores the galaxy

Want to feel really small? Play around with Chrome Experiments’ newest toy, an explorable model of the Milky Way galaxy.

In just seconds you can travel to Alcyone, a star in the constellation Taurus, and read a recap of what astronomers have discovered about it (By the way, this trip would take more than 14 million years in a NASA space shuttle).

The amount of detail and aesthetic quality of the site are pretty amazing, so it’s definitely worth an extended look after you get away from your work computer.

A few things to note before you dive in: clicking and dragging will rotate the model, while the bar on right will zoom in and out. The galaxy is huge, so it’s easy to get lost when you start zooming. Zooming all the way in will land you at the sun until you click on another celestial body, then the program will zoom in and out from that point. The “tour” in the top left corner can help you orient yourself on the map before taking off on an interstellar adventure.

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