Orion Nebula In 3D Will Take Your Breath Away (PHOTO, VIDEO)
Hubble 3D, an IMAX film released by NASA and which premieres in select cities today, adds a whole new dimension to space.
The movie will feature some of the Hubble telescope's most famous and breathtaking images like the Eagle Nebula's 'Pillars of Creation' or the Orion Nebula. These 2D images have been 'converted into 3D environments' to simulate for moviegoers the experience of actually touring inside starscapes.
A still from the movie offers a glimpse of the detail and perspective offered by the 3D experience.
The photo below is a still from Hubble 3D's four-minute virtual tour of the 15-lightyear-wide Orion Nebula. The three-dimensional model was built using Hubble images from 2006. It was a collaborative effort involving the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
See an even larger view of the '3D' Orion Nebula here.
Image Credit: NASA, G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (STScI/AURA)
According to NASA, '[The] movie chronicles the 20-year life of Hubble and includes highlights from the May 2009 servicing mission to the Earth-orbiting observatory, with footage taken by the astronauts.'
WATCH:
Experience Hubble's Universe in 3-D
This image depicts a vast canyon of dust and gas in the Orion Nebula from a 3-D computer model based on observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and created by science visualization specialists at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md. A 3-D visualization of this model takes viewers on an amazing four-minute voyage through the 15-light-year-wide canyon.
The model takes viewers through an exhilarating ride through the Orion Nebula, a vast star-making factory 1,500 light-years away. This virtual space journey isn't the latest video game but one of several groundbreaking astronomy visualizations created by specialists at STScI, the science operations center for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The cinematic space odysseys are part of the new Imax film Hubble 3D, which opens today at select IMAX theaters worldwide.
The 43-minute movie chronicles the 20-year life of Hubble and includes highlights from the May 2009 servicing mission to the Earth-orbiting observatory, with footage taken by the astronauts. The giant-screen film showcases some of Hubble's breathtaking iconic pictures, such as the Eagle Nebula's "Pillars of Creation," as well as stunning views taken by the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3.
While Hubble pictures of celestial objects are awe-inspiring, they are flat 2-D photographs. For this film, those 2-D images have been converted into 3-D environments, giving the audience the impression they are space travelers taking a tour of Hubble's most popular targets.
Based on a Hubble image of Orion released in 2006, the visualization was a collaborative effort between science visualization specialists at STScI, including Greg Bacon, who sculpted the Orion Nebula digital model, with input from STScI astronomer Massimo Roberto; the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
For some of the sequences, STScI imaging specialists developed new techniques for transforming the 2-D Hubble images into 3-D. STScI image processing specialists Lisa Frattare and Zolt Levay, for example, created methods of splitting a giant gaseous pillar in the Carina Nebula into multiple layers to produce a 3-D effect, giving the structure depth.
Hubble 3D, an IMAX film released by NASA and which premieres in select cities today, adds a whole new dimension to space.
The movie will feature some of the Hubble telescope's most famous and breathtaking images like the Eagle Nebula's 'Pillars of Creation' or the Orion Nebula. These 2D images have been 'converted into 3D environments' to simulate for moviegoers the experience of actually touring inside starscapes.
A still from the movie offers a glimpse of the detail and perspective offered by the 3D experience.
The photo below is a still from Hubble 3D's four-minute virtual tour of the 15-lightyear-wide Orion Nebula. The three-dimensional model was built using Hubble images from 2006. It was a collaborative effort involving the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
See an even larger view of the '3D' Orion Nebula here.
Image Credit: NASA, G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (STScI/AURA)
According to NASA, '[The] movie chronicles the 20-year life of Hubble and includes highlights from the May 2009 servicing mission to the Earth-orbiting observatory, with footage taken by the astronauts.'
WATCH:
Experience Hubble's Universe in 3-D
This image depicts a vast canyon of dust and gas in the Orion Nebula from a 3-D computer model based on observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and created by science visualization specialists at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md. A 3-D visualization of this model takes viewers on an amazing four-minute voyage through the 15-light-year-wide canyon.
The model takes viewers through an exhilarating ride through the Orion Nebula, a vast star-making factory 1,500 light-years away. This virtual space journey isn't the latest video game but one of several groundbreaking astronomy visualizations created by specialists at STScI, the science operations center for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The cinematic space odysseys are part of the new Imax film Hubble 3D, which opens today at select IMAX theaters worldwide.
The 43-minute movie chronicles the 20-year life of Hubble and includes highlights from the May 2009 servicing mission to the Earth-orbiting observatory, with footage taken by the astronauts. The giant-screen film showcases some of Hubble's breathtaking iconic pictures, such as the Eagle Nebula's "Pillars of Creation," as well as stunning views taken by the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3.
While Hubble pictures of celestial objects are awe-inspiring, they are flat 2-D photographs. For this film, those 2-D images have been converted into 3-D environments, giving the audience the impression they are space travelers taking a tour of Hubble's most popular targets.
Based on a Hubble image of Orion released in 2006, the visualization was a collaborative effort between science visualization specialists at STScI, including Greg Bacon, who sculpted the Orion Nebula digital model, with input from STScI astronomer Massimo Roberto; the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
For some of the sequences, STScI imaging specialists developed new techniques for transforming the 2-D Hubble images into 3-D. STScI image processing specialists Lisa Frattare and Zolt Levay, for example, created methods of splitting a giant gaseous pillar in the Carina Nebula into multiple layers to produce a 3-D effect, giving the structure depth.