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He Built the Universe (in Minecraft!)
CHRISDACOW VIA YOUTUBE
CREATING THE COSMOS: This cluster of spiral galaxies was brought to life in Minecraft. In a video on his YouTube channel, ChrisDaCow (inset) explains how he translated real-life space objects into Minecraft.
Last year, a YouTuber known as ChrisDaCow re-created everything in the known universe—inside the video game Minecraft. It took him two months to build every observed galaxy, black hole, nebula, and solar system in space. Chris, an 18-year-old from San Diego, California, has been designing elaborate creations in Minecraft for nine years. Building the entire universe has been his biggest undertaking yet.
RINGED PLANET: ChrisDaCow’s depiction of Saturn. It took the YouTuber an entire day just to space out and tilt all of Saturn’s rings.
In Minecraft, players use a variety of blocks to construct anything they want. But creating massive planets and stars out of cubes laid one at a time is time-consuming, says Chris. So the YouTuber installed a mod, or modification that alters a video game, that allowed him to lay thousands of blocks at a time. Players build these programs by altering the game’s code, or computer instructions. “Minecraft is a game built perfectly for creating pretty much anything,” says Chris.