When a friendly surgeon asked if I had a retirement hobby, the answer was:
" To model the three dimensional features of the universe".
"I like it," he said, "an unpretentious little project. But do you feel retirement lasts long enough to understand deep space?"
Oh yes. Two dimensions of space, called X and y planes, can be seen nightly from my backyard and I understand so little about galactic distances, I am kept busy inventing the z plane.
"I like it even more," the surgeon said cuttingly. "Your universe construction suffers from delusions of deity that might fascinate a Psychiatrist."
Ah but nobody, including me, has to believe these constructions. My models are hypothetical structures to stimulate thought and argument, since pictures are worth whole dictionaries of words.
"How will you guarantee the depth accuracy of your chart?"
Stereoscopic space modeling is an art form, and comes with a disclaimer that the 3D pictures presented must not be used for space-ship navigation.
"These models are nothing but mythology," declared the surgeon.
Astronomy has always been based on mythology. My faith comes from a T shirt statement: 'The Big Bang is an Exploding Myth'. However, the 3D models are based on 2D clues, such as dark objects blocking the light from glowing gas must be in front of the glow.
"So which charts do you suggest for Captain Kirk?"
None. These are all major navigational hazards. The beauty of glowing gas is produced by ultraviolet and X-rays so intense they will never be tourist resorts for live humans. They are more interesting to Radiologists than Surgeons.
"So these are old dying stars blowing up in the galactic geriatric wards?" asked the surgeon.
Some, like planetary nebulae and supernova remnants are certainly of interest to Geriatricians.
The biggest clouds (like the Orion nebula and eta Carina) are Obstetrical wards where new stars are born. Fetal stars come from dark gas and dust, sometimes in clouds shaped like smoke stacks or gas pillars (well seen in the Eagle nebula, but also visible in my 3d analysis of the Rosette nebula). The fetal stars are hidden from human vision but detected by infra-red rays that penetrate the dust. Infant stars, often clustered in Paediatric wards, have blown way the unused gas (which impresses Gastro-enterologists) and that is how they emerge into visibility.
Giant baby stars often blow up prematurely as supernovae, and are a challenge to Neonatologists.
Medium and smaller stars radiate excess energy as teenagers to become adult, stable stars on the main sequence. The adult phase lasts a very long time and an unknown number of stable stars, like the sun, foster life forms on planets, becoming interesting to General Practitioners.
"Now you have summarised stellar medical specialties, please explain why are there two pictures of nebulae and galaxies?"
The nebula models are miniatures of my original stereoscopic cards, suitable for a Holmes Stereoscope. You could print them out. But the originals have 320dpi resolution on 5x7 inch cards, while these are pathetically small, compressed files which print poorly.
"But how will anybody see your hitch-hikers' guide to the Galactic depth traps. Can I purchase 3D cards for Grand-dad's ancient stereoscope for example?"
Not at present, because I do not have rights to the astronomical images the models are based on. The people of NOAO/AURA/NSF, the Hubble Space Telescope and I have yet to negotiate a deal. However, NOAO, through Kathy Coil, has given me permission for stereoscopic versions on the internet, but not if published any other way.
Hurtfully he asked, "What if I think your three dimensional models of nebulae are rubbish?"
You have three choices:
- make better models yourself,
- or surf on to another web site, such as Inaka's Japanese 3D space art
- or the supercomputer rendering of the Orion nebula or 3D anaglyphs from NASA. See also the .pdf file from Ragazzoni et al discussed below.
"How can anybody see these Holmes cards in 3D?"
Viewing of parallel stereo pairs on a computer
screen is easily done with a Pokescope or better still a ScreenScope, if free stereoscopic viewing is
beyond you. This is all described, with many alternative methods for
computer stereo at:
http://nzphoto.tripod.com/stereo/
The various stereoscopic viewers can be purchased at sites linked from there.
"If I click on the pictures I will see bigger versions as usual?"
Not for most of them.
(February 2003: the rosette nebula is now available as an anaglyph and the tarantula nebula as a reduced size stereo card.
2004: Large versions are now available at Crystal Canyons under John Wattie Stereo Art.) That web site uses an advanced multi-format viewing program at high resolution and the author feels privileged to have his work displayed there.
"I don't like it. Surgery demands certainty. These stars are too variable for me."
Star z planes might be improved using Hyparchos and Tycho data. However, most of the star distances near nebulae are recorded as "unknown" in these big catalogues and improved accuracy currently seems an impossible project for an amateur.
Latest sun image
version 08/03/06
Rosette Nebula, a large gas cloud near the
ecliptic and visible in the summer sky from New Zealand as a faint haze in large aperture binoculars. Ths really is a photographic object rather than a naked eye display, despite its large size, because it is just too faint.
Original flat image from Travis Rector, photographed as a
mosaic from Kitt Peak (NOAO/AURA/NSF). 3D model by John Wattie.
Mz3 Ant Nebula in the Southern Constellation of Norma. In the form of a stereoscopic Holmes Card (only small size here). The author tried to present the 3d structure as if symetrical jets were emitted along the rotation axis of the central star. In the process, I was foiled by the jets not actually lining up properly with the star, which must mean something, but I am not clear what. Are the "bubbles" magnetic and bending the jets?
HII region in M33, a galaxy of the local cluster.
30 Doradus Star Cluster, Tarantula nebula.
Large Magellanic Cloud, Southern hemisphere sky only. (HST
WFPC2 mosaic) ( 3D Model by John Wattie)
NGC6782 Galaxy
Solar 3D
Original images from the SOHO satellite. Image processing by John Wattie.
SOHO (ESA & NASA)
The background image to this page is the sun's high temperature corona on 15th April 2006. Presented as a stereoscopic anaglyph, needing red/cyan 3D glasses. Hopefully it is also acceptable as a desk-top picture, even when seen without the goggles. The 3D solar images provided here and rendered as anaglyphs depend on the rotation of the sun to provide two views. This suffers from the very active solar surface changing as the sun rotates and so the stereo is only an approximation.
STEREO mission
True, simultaneous stereo pairs of the sun are now being taken from the NASA STEREO mission. (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory).
Some of them are available on this web site, converted to anaglyphs by John Wattie.
There is also a new Japanese X-ray camera in orbit, replacing Yohkoh which died at the beginning of this century. Called Hinode, a stereoscopic version of its image, converted to anaglyph by John Wattie is available here. Since there is only one Hinode, the 3D had to be done in the old fashioned way, by using the sun's rotation to provide the parallax
The two STEREO space-craft are photographing the sun in 3D with the particular aim of showing Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's). The LASCO intrument on SOHO spacecraft shows CME's well, but ejections heading towards earth and away from earth look much the same. The camera may be hit by protons and gamma rays soon afer the CME takes off which indicates it is coming in the gneral direction of earth, but it may be "aiming to miss." A 3D view should make it possible to decide if the CME is heading for us. Multiple instruments have been built in the University of Bern.
Large Binocular Telescope
http://medusa.as.arizona.edu/lbto/response_to_challenge.htm
The LBT is not designed to give stereoscopic images. Combining two separate astronomical images produces higher resolution, equivalent to increasing the effective telescope diameter from 8 meter pair of binocular mirrors to a 22 meter single mirror. Something simlar happens in the human eyes, where two eyes give a better image than one, even when the image pairs are not stereoscopic.
