Swiss researchers to release most detailed 3D map of the universe

Swiss researchers have created software to virtually travel around the universe. Space enthusiasts will now be able to see galaxies, planets and the International Space Station in 3D from the comfort of Earth. The Virtual Reality Universe Project is accessible to everyone for free, but it does require at least a computer and is best visualised with VR equipment or 3D capabilities.

Lausanne (Switzerland):The final frontier has rarely seemed closer than this — at least virtually. Researchers at one of Switzerland's top universities are releasing open-source beta software that allows for virtual visits through the cosmos.

They have pulled together what they call the largest data set of the universe to create three-dimensional, panoramic visualisations of space. "We have reproduced in this room, in virtual reality, different portions of our universe," said Yves Revaz, senior scientist at the laboratory of astrophysics of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

"In particular, here, you can see the Earth and just in front of it, the International Space Station which is orbiting around the Earth."

Software engineers, astrophysicists and experimental museology experts at the EPFL have built a virtual map that can be viewed through individual VR gear, immersion systems like panoramic cinemas with 3D glasses, dome screens, or just on a PC for two-dimensional viewing.

The main interest of the team is to be able to visualise the universe at different scales.

"In our representation of our universe in virtual reality, we can jump from different scales. So we started before from the Earth, we are now looking at the large, what is called the large scale structures (patterns of galaxies) of the universe," said Revaz.

Simply put, their 3D model is a sort of Google Earth, but for the universe. Computer algorithms use tens of terabytes of data and produce images that can appear as close as 1 meter (about 3 feet), or almost infinitely far away.

"So what we see here now, is a representation of the universe that has been obtained thanks to gigantic numerical consignation. In fact, thanks to computers, we are able to reproduce the evolution over a long period of time of a portion of the universe that lets us understand how the matter is distributed all around the universe," said Revaz.

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The Virtual Reality Universe Project (VIRUP) is accessible to everyone for free, but it does require at least a computer and is best visualised with VR equipment or 3D capabilities.

"So this is really the reason why we developed VIRUP, that is to access the universe through standard virtual reality systems, like this one. That is the standard one that is usually used by gamers," said Revaz. The immersive experience also makes the universe more approachable for an amateur audience.

"With the glasses, the immersion is fantastic, it's really like if you are floating in the universe and you are much bigger than a normal human. For example, here I see the Earth and I feel it is really small, like a normal soccer ball," Revaz added.

Thanks to the realistic 3D model, people will be able to travel through the universe from home. "Indeed, we start from the Earth, we visit the planets, we visit the Milky Way, all the stars that compose the Milky Way, but we can also discover the large scale structure of the universe. That is a very efficient way of visiting all the different scales that compose our universe, and this is completely unique."

The experience is not limited to VR headsets and can also be enjoyed on 2D screens and panoramic ones, like domes.

"Our virtual reality environment, VIRUP, is not only designed to immerse people in a panorama or virtual reality headset, but it may also be used to display images on this kind of device, on a dome that you can see here, a hemisphere, and there, in particular, you can discover all the constellations that you usually see in the sky. This way we let people travel from different regions into space and discover the cosmos," said Revaz.

The software aims to draw in a broad array of visitors, both scientists looking to visualise the data they continue to collect and the general public seeking to explore the heavens virtually.

"It's a bit for everyone because we try to approach and show things to everyone, as well to researchers because finally, even myself, I was surprised by certain things in this film and I think that everyone can find what they are looking for, inexperienced people, people who don't know much because they are going to learn a lot of things," said Jean-Paul Kneib, director of EPFL's astrophysics lab.

"And then even the experts, by visualising the observations such as we do them in three dimensions, it's really a new way of seeing the reality of things."

And this educational visualisation model could be applied to other industries.

"If we want to look inside our brain if we want to go and look at what is happening in the Tokamaks for fusion. We have developed a 3D visualisation tool that can really be beneficial to many scientific fields," said Kneib.

Even though VR games and universe representations already exist, the EPFL team says VIRUP goes much further and wider since it brings together eight data sets containing hundreds of millions of space objects in a one-stop-shop solution.

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This all-encompassing data set was the initial idea behind the project. "In fact, we actually started this project because I was working on a three-dimensional mapping project of the universe and was always a little frustrated with the 2D visualisation on my screen, which wasn't very meaningful. And the idea is to say no, it's not just 2D, we'll make a map in 3D - let's see it in 3D, we're not going to simplify complex things. It's true that by showing the universe in 3D, by showing these filaments, by showing these clusters of galaxies which are large concentrations of matter, you really realise what the universe is," said Kneib.

Still a work in progress, for now, the beta version can't be run on a Mac — and it needs a lot of internal storage to work on a PC.

A lighter and broader-public version of the content will be available for best-of highlights.

AP