PlanetVRium makes the distinction clearly: "Unlike other phone apps which show you constellations in the sky, PlanetVRium allows you to interact with the night sky, in VR." This is the key difference between PlanetVRium and a standard stargazing app like Sky Map or Star Walk. In VR, the night sky is all around you — above, below and in every direction simultaneously, at the correct scale and with the correct spatial relationships between stars. You don't look at a screen showing the sky; you stand inside it.

What is PlanetVRium?

PlanetVRium is an interactive VR planetarium developed by PeanutSoft LLC — a small indie studio. Released on Steam in early access in April 2022 and available on Meta Quest, it describes itself as "a must see for all junior astronomers, young and old, or anyone with a curiosity and passion for the night sky." Its aim is to recreate the experience of a traditional planetarium dome — sitting inside a dark space while the entire night sky wraps around you — but with the added interactivity that VR controllers make possible.

The core data is scientifically accurate: all 8,400 visible stars in both hemispheres are positioned using real astronomical catalogue data, and all 88 constellations follow the official International Astronomical Union (IAU) designations — the authoritative global classification used by professional astronomers. The stars, constellations and deep sky objects are "modelled and displayed in mathematically correct location and relationship to each other", meaning a student can use PlanetVRium to genuinely learn the night sky rather than encounter a stylised approximation of it.

Beyond the star field itself, PlanetVRium includes Educational Visual Experiences — short video content that explains aspects of the universe and helps contextualise what students are seeing in the sky around them. This lifts the experience from pure visual immersion toward something closer to a guided educational session. The sky can be adjusted for the user's latitude and time of year, making it possible to show students exactly what the night sky looks like from their location tonight — and to explore how it changes across the year as Earth moves around the Sun.

What's Inside

Curriculum & Educational Fit

PlanetVRium's greatest strength for schools is providing the core planetarium experience — standing inside the night sky surrounded by accurate stars — without needing to book a trip to an actual planetarium. For most UK schools, a visit to a dedicated planetarium is an irregular, expensive and logistically complex event. PlanetVRium makes the equivalent core experience available in the classroom on demand, for any student, at any time. For students in urban environments who have never seen a truly dark night sky — which includes the majority of UK children — standing inside 8,400 accurate stars for the first time is genuinely revelatory.

For GCSE Astronomy (where it is offered), PlanetVRium covers directly relevant content: the celestial sphere, the 88 IAU constellations, circumpolar stars, seasonal sky changes by latitude, star magnitude and colour, and the identification of major deep sky objects. For GCSE and A-level Physics, star colour and temperature (the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram), stellar classification and the scale of the observable universe are all visually supported. For KS3 Science, the night sky, Earth's place in the Solar System and the scale of the universe are standard topics that PlanetVRium illuminates directly. For primary school, the sheer wonder of standing inside the Milky Way — thousands of stars visible simultaneously — is a powerful stimulus for curiosity and engagement with science. Age appropriate for all year groups.