A new project provides special 3D “experiences” on Instagram using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes through augmented reality (AR), allowing users to travel virtually through objects in space. These new experiences of astronomical objects – including the debris fields of exploded stars – are being released to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of operations from Chandra, NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope.
In recent years, Instagram experiences
(previously referred to as filters) of NASA mission control, the International
Space Station, and the Perseverance Rover on Mars have allowed participants to
virtually explore what NASA does. This new set of Chandra Instagram filters
joins this space-themed collection.
These four images showcase the 2D captured views of
the cosmic objects included in the new augmented reality 3D release. Presenting
multiwavelength images of the Vela Pulsar, Tycho’s Supernova Remnant, Helix
Nebula, and Cat’s Eye Nebula that include Chandra X-ray data as well as optical
data in each, and for the Helix, additional infrared and ultraviolet data.
Vela Pulsar: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical:
NASA/ESA/STScI; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, K. Arcand; Tycho’s
Supernova Remnant: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: DSS; Image Processing:
NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk; Helix Nebula: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSC;
Optical: NASA/ STScI/M. Meixner, ESA/NRAO/T.A. Rector;
Infrared:NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Su; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk and K.
Arcand; Cat’s Eye Nebula: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image
Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, L. Frattare, K. Arcand
“We are excited to bring data from the universe down to earth in this way,”
said Kimberly Arcand, visualization and emerging technology scientist at the
Chandra X-ray Center. “By enabling people to access cosmic data on their phones
and through AR, it brings Chandra’s amazing discoveries literally right to your
fingertips.”
The new Instagram experiences are
created from 3D models based on data collected by Chandra and other telescopes
along with mathematical models. Traditionally, it has been very difficult to
gather 3D data of objects in our galaxy due to their two-dimensional projection
on the sky. New instruments and techniques, however, have helped allowed
astronomers in recent years to construct more data-driven models of what these
distant objects look like in three dimensions.
These advancements in astronomy
have paralleled the explosion of opportunities in virtual, extended, and
augmented reality. Such technologies provide virtual digital experiences, which
now extend beyond Earth and into the cosmos. This new set of Chandra Instagram
experiences was made possible by a collaboration including NASA, the
Smithsonian Institution, and students and researchers at Brown University.
These Instagram experiences also include data sonifications of the celestial objects. Sonification is the process of translating data into sounds and notes so users can hear representations of the data, an accessibility project the Chandra team has led for the past four years.
“These Chandra Instagram experiences are
another way to share these cosmic data with the public,” said Arcand. “We are
hoping this helps reach new audiences, especially those who like to get their
information through social media.”
The objects in the new Chandra Instagram
experience collection include the Tycho supernova remnant, the Vela Pulsar, the
Helix Nebula, the Cat’s Eye Nebula, and the Chandra spacecraft. The 3D models
of the first three objects were done in conjunction with Sal Orlando, an
astrophysicist at Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in
Palmero. The Cat’s Eye Nebula was created with data from Ryan Clairmont,
physics researcher and undergraduate at Stanford University. Arcand worked with
Brown’s Tom Sgouros and his team, research assistant Alexander Dupuis and
undergraduate Healey Koch, on the Chandra Instagram filters.
The experiences include text that
explains what users are looking at. The effects are free and available on Instagram on mobile devices for at least six months, and some will remain
viewable in perpetuity on the Smithsonian’s Voyager 3D website.
“There is a lot of rich and beautiful
data associated with these models that Healey and I looked to bring in, which
we did by creating the textures on the models as well as programming visual
effects for displaying them in AR,” said Dupuis.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s
Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight
operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. The Chandra X-ray Center is
headquartered at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which is part of
the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/
Source: Travel Through Data From Space in New 3D Instagram Experiences - NASA
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