The universe – endless expanses. It is not actually accessible, but at least now achievable in virtual reality. The Swiss University of Lausanne We launched an open source beta program that enables virtual visits to the universe. For this purpose, the largest available data set in the universe was collected in order to create 3D panoramic visualizations.
Software engineers, astrophysicists, and display experts have developed a space that can be experienced through 3D glasses, in panoramic cinemas, dome screens, or simply on a computer for 2D viewing.
Scientists describe the experience as particularly impressive thanks to the proportions.
The project goes further than any current representation of the universe, hundreds of millions of objects in space can be represented in a single solution. The benefits also go beyond astronomy and astrophysics: this tool can be useful for many scientific and industrial applications – for example to represent the human brain, the perception of which is at least as complex as the known universe.
