• Scientists have developed 3D representations of the star cluster NGC 602
• The features are represented using raised open circles, lines, and dots
• They also have different heights to correspond with their brightness
• The team is now designing a way of rendering the nebula's structure onto a sphere that represents its true 3D shape

What does it feel like to have the universe at your fingertips?
 
The blind and visually impaired will soon be able to find out through a project that has developed 3D printed tactile pictures of the cosmos. 
 
Astronomers from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland are using images taken by the Hubble telescope and translating them into something that can be felt on plastic.
 
Researchers are experimenting with 3D printing o transform astronomy education by turning images from the Hubble Space Telescope into tactile 3D pictures for people who cannot explore celestial wonders by sight
 
The incredible iconic image of the star cluster NGC 609, for instance, shows several new stars circling around a striking bubble of gas and dust.
 
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Visually it’s stunning, and recreating that experience through touch is a major challenge as researchers can't really see space objects in three dimensions.
 
‘The work is scientific, but it's also guesswork and artistry to try to produce an object, which printed, will look like the image that Hubble has taken,’ said astronomer Antonella Nota.
 
So far, the scientists have developed 3D tactile prototype representations in plastic showing the stars, filaments, gas, and dust seen in the visual image using textures such as raised open circles, lines, and dots
 
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Astronomers in Maryland have so far developed 3D representations of filaments, gas, and dust seen in the star cluster NGC 602.
 
Using a 3D printer, they represented each feature using different textures on a plastic sheet including raised open circles, lines, and dots.
 
These features also have different heights to correspond with their brightness. The tallest, and therefore brightest, features are a tight group of open circles, which represent the stars in the core of the cluster.
 
The team is now designing a way of rendering the nebula's structure onto a sphere that represents its true 3D shape.
 
‘We are basically designing the process from scratch.’
 
So far, the scientists have developed 3D tactile prototype representations of the stars, filaments, gas, and dust seen in NGC 602 using various textures such as raised open circles, lines, and dots.
 
These features also have different heights to correspond with their brightness. The tallest, and therefore brightest, features are a tight group of open circles, which represent the stars in the core of the cluster.
 
The 3D printouts of NGC 602 are a first steps towards the team’s goal of creating a 3D model of the cluster that people will be able to hold in their hands and study.
 
‘Imagine making a visualisation that you visually fly through, and as you fly through, first you encounter filaments, and then you see some dust and also some stars,’ said researcher Carol Christian.
 

SOURCE: Daily Mail