Visitors to the Lafayette Science Museum can explore the depths of the ocean, tour outer space and walk like a giant across the globe in a new virtual reality exhibit opening Saturday.
Patrons can slip on a pair goggles and immerse themselves in interactive three-dimensional worlds created with virtual reality technology most residents have likely never experienced before.
"The technology being used to do this is right on the cusp," said Lafayette Science Museum Administrator Kevin Krantz.
The exhibit features , each with a different experience.
A virtual reality version of Google Earth offers a chance to step inside the popular satellite mapping program and traverse the globe.
"You are literally able to be Gulliver and tower over these cities," Krantz said.
Patrons can hop aboard a spacecraft and guide it through the solar system, fly an airplane or explore a virtual underwater world filled with reefs and sealife.
One station offers the chance to take up a digital paint brush to create virtual three-dimensional art, and another a tour of human body.
"You are really small and go into the body and look at it from the inside out," Krantz said.
A station called Acadian 360 offers a virtual experience of local culture, including a Mardi Gras parade, Cajun dance hall, crawfish boil and swamp tour.
Krantz said the exhibit has been in the planning stages for about a year, and the virtual reality offerings were selected based on educational value and ease of use.
"All of these were picked based on usability," Krantz said. "We had to have something that users could jump into immediately."
Krantz said the idea for the exhibit came as staff were brainstorming how best to follow the recent “Fossil Giants: Dinosaurs and Mammals" exhibit, one of the more popular in the museum's history.
"It was hard to top," he said.
The new exhibit will be in place for three years, and Krantz said the virtual reality experiences can be tweaked and updated based on feedback and popularity.
"It is completely fluid. We can change the experience," he said.
The Lafayette Science Museum is on Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette.
The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information, visit .