Classroom Mode

Learn the nearby stars

Found in Space is designed as a structured educational platform. Here you can find concise astronomical concepts and guided journeys that connect what you see in the night sky to the real 3D structure of the galaxy.

First lesson

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

One of astronomy's most powerful maps — plotting temperature against luminosity to reveal how stars are grouped, how they age, and what the solar neighbourhood is actually made of. Built on a live 3D star viewer using real Gaia data.

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Lesson

Star clusters: families of stars

Stars are born in groups. Fly between real clusters — from stellar nurseries to ancient globulars — to see how age, gravity, and the galaxy shape stellar families.

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Lesson

The radio bubble

How far have Earth's radio signals travelled? Fly outside humanity's electromagnetic footprint to see how small it really is — and discover that our signals are about to reach the nearest star cluster.

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Fiction meets real data

The astrophage infestation

Trace the spread of a fictional alien organism through real stars — from Tau Ceti to the Sun — inspired by Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. Every star position comes from the Gaia catalogue.

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For students and the curious

Next steps

Once you've worked through the lessons, these are the questions that come after — open research topics you can investigate using real Gaia data, the tools on this site, and your own analysis. Each one is a starting point, not an answer.

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Our approach

Questions over answers.

Every lesson in the Learn section is built on real measurements from ESA's Gaia mission. The aim is clarity without sacrificing precision — moving from simple visual metaphors to the actual data astronomers use to map our corner of the Milky Way.

More lessons are in development. The HR diagram is a working example of the format: a short explainer, a live 3D viewer, and a guided tour of what the data shows.