Hubble 3D: twinkle, twinkle massive star

Tuesday 24 August 2010, 4.57 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events

Hubble 3D gives you a glimpse into the unknowable, taking you billions of light years into space – through the lense of the largest space telescope known to humankind.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s measured tones guide us through the Hubble’s journey into space: from its creation (10,000 people spent more than 10 years designing and building the Hubble) to its bumpy start in 1990 (a faulty optical system was the culprit).

Three years, and a pair of giant contact lenses later, the Hubble was finally operational – bringing crystal-clear vision of an intangible world.

Hubble 3D takes us into the opalescent-like nebula of Orion’s Belt, a nursery for stars and planets with their own infant solar systems. It’s a world where the sun rises and sets every 90 minutes. The film’s 3D effect comes into its own here, as you are immersed in enormous canyons of gaseous clouds and hundreds of millions of stars seem to spring out of the screen, almost within hands’ reach.

As we swing back to Planet Earth, we join a group of seven astronauts as they prepare for a challenging mission to service the Hubble – kinda like changing spark plugs but with oven mitts in zero gravity.

The rest of the film documents the laborious rehearsals, checking and reviewing that dominates mere mortals’ adventures into space. The final, incredible blast-off into space is a 3D wonder.

Space junkies will love this film’s insights into how NASA’s operations, but those like me, who prefer to dream without being grounded by reality, may yearn for more of those glorious, 3D fly-through images.

Would-be astronauts can view Hubble 3D at IMAX Carlton until 12 October. Tickets are $17.50 adult, $14 concession, $12.50 child, $50 family (two adults and two children).

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