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Space Time-Quest

A computer game, now in Spanish, turns you into a black hole and supernova hunter! 17 November, 2011




Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the leader of an international science project? One that could change astronomy forever and would get you a Nobel Prize in case of success? Here is your chance! Space-Time Quest is a computer game where the challenge is to design the most sensitive gravitational waves detector in the world. You can check how you compare to the best of the best in the high-score hall of fame.

The game has been developed by scientists in the University of Birmingham Gravitational Wave Group and translated into Spanish by the UIB Relativity and Gravitation Group. The game can be complemented with an e-book on gravitational waves, which has been translated to several languages, including Spanish by the UIB group. It is free software and available for several operating systems.

A very spacial contest

The Spanish version of Space-Time Quest has been presented for the first time during the "Semana de la Ciencia" (Science Week) with the contest “En busca del espacio-tiempo”. Dozens of UIB students visited the Space-Time Quest stand at the Physics Building, where they could compete during two days. The winner was Martí Serra Plomer, a first year physics student, who designed the best detector. He obtained a score of 50.817 Megaparsecs and his detector could find 33 supernovae, 9 systems of neutron stars and 3 systems of black holes.

During the same week several high school students also visited the Space-Time Quest stand. Assisted by the UIB Gravity Group members, they quickly got into the game and started to ask all sorts of questions about astronomy and physics in general. The visit was part of the project "DemoLab", which aims to bring science closer to high school students.

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