Viewing Space in Three Dimensions

These days you see the term “3D” attached to just about anything that somebody wants to sell you.  It’s kind of over-hyped for a lot of things — like toothpaste. Yep, I saw an ad for toothpaste that hyped it’s “3D”-ness.  And there are 3D movies and glasses and all that.  But, did you know that you can do cheap 3D to look at really cool objects in the universe?

The Hubble Space Telescope looked at IRAS 05437+2502, a cloud of interstellar dust that floats in space in the direction of the constellation Taurus, the Bull. It’s a star-forming region first seen in images taken by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS)  in 1983.  Hubble took this image to help astronomers determine what is causing the bright arc at the top of the topmost peak of the cloud. Is it the wake of a star that has left the nebula?  The glow from within?  Or something else?  Further studies will tell the story of this gorgeous little cloud of gas and dust and its shiny arc.

So, where’s the 3D aspect of this? An astronomer in Japan has created some lovely “3D” views — which you can see if you click on the image at left above. It’ll take you to a website where you can simulate the 3D view of this cloud of gas and dust simply by crossing your eyes and staring at the view. It’s really a beautiful piece of work!  And, worthy of the term “3D view”!  Enjoy!