The 3D Printed Universe: Touching the Stars Tactile/Braille Kit
Despite our limited abilities to travel to distant objects in outer space that can be thousands of light years away - if not millions or billions of light years away - astronomers, computer scientists, and other specialists are developing 3D models of the stars with data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and other telescopes. 3D modeling and printing objects in our Universe offers a unique tool to understand scientific data.
Download 3D printable files below, or, request free tactile and Braille materials for your organization by emailing Kimberly Arcand kkowal@cfa.harvard.edu
3d Printing Files for
Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant
Click to download the printable model of the Cas A Supernova remnant 3D print ready model with supports: 600k triangle OBJ, 27 MB
Click to download the STL file Commonly accepted by a wide range of 3D printers: 28.06 MB
Click to download the proprietary file format for Makerbot brand printers: 14.31 MB
One of the most famous bodies in the night sky is the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This object was created when a massive star ran out of fuel and exploded, hurtling its outer layers into space at millions of miles per hour.
This 3D print maps the two main components of this supernova remnant: a spherical component in the outer parts of the remnant and a flattened (disk-like) component in the inner region. The spherical component consists of the outer layer of the star that exploded. These layers drove a spherical blast wave into the diffuse gas surrounding the star. The flattened component consists of the inner layers of the star. High-velocity jets of this material are shooting out from the explosion in multiple directions.
This data of Cassiopeia A was captured by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and combined with infrared and visible light to make the first ever 3D model of an exploded star, courtesy of Tracey Delaney.
For more details on the science and 3D print process, please click here.
3d Printing Files for SN87A
Click to download the 3D files for the Ring Debris 2017
Click to download the 3D files for the Ring 2017
Click to download the combined 3D files for the Ring Debris 2017 and Ring 2017
On February 23, 1987, astronomers noticed a new source of light in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Scientists realized that this new beacon was, in fact, an explosion caused by the death of a massive star. It was a supernova, and became known as Supernova 1987A, or SN87A for short.
This 3D print maps the SN87A supernova remnant at its current observedage of 30 years. The blast wave from the supernova has crashed into a pre-existing ring of gas, throwing blobs of this gas upwards and downwards.
This 3D print is based on 3D simulations by Salvatore Orlando and X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
For more details on the science and 3D print process, please click here.
3d Printing Files for V745 Sco
(Ejecta - Blast wave - Combined)
Click to download the Ejecta file
Click to download the Blast Wave file
Click to download the Ejecta and Blast Wave Combined file
For decades, astronomers have known about irregular outbursts from the double star system V745 Sco. V745 Sco consists of a red giant star and a white dwarf locked together by gravity. These two stellar objects orbit so closely around one another that the outer layers of the red giant are pulled away by the intense gravitational force of the white dwarf. This material gradually falls onto the surface of the white dwarf. Over time, enough material can accumulate on the white dwarf to trigger a colossal thermonuclear explosion. In this model, the blast wave is smooth, and the mass ejected by the explosion is textured and bumpy.
This 3D print is based on 3D simulations by Salvatore Orlando and X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
For more details on the science and 3D print process, please click here.
3d Printing Files for Pillars of Creation (M16)
Click to download Pillars Model file
M16, also called the Pillars of Creation, is a nearby star-forming region. The Pillars, which are sometimes called elephant trunks due to their shape, are an example of the column-like shapes that develop in giant clouds of gas and dust that are the birthplaces of new stars. This 3D model depicts details about the orientation of the Pillars in space, mostly that the Pillars actually consist of several distinct pieces on either side of a star cluster. In this model, note that the relative distance between the pillars is not to scale.
This 3D print is based on combined high-resolution spectroscopic data from the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) with data from the Hubble Space Telescope by McLeod et al., 2015.
3d Printing Files for Eta Carinae/Homunculus Nebula
Click to download Eta Carinae/Homunculus Model (5 inches)
In the middle of the 19th century, the massive binary system Eta Carinae underwent an eruption that ejected at least 10 times the sun's mass and made it the second-brightest star in the sky. As a part of this event, which astronomers call the Great Eruption, the gaseous shell formed a twin-lobed dust-filled cloud known as the Homunculus Nebula, which is now about 10 trillion kilometers long and continues to expand at more than 2.1 million kilometers per hour. This 3D print of the Homunculus Nebula reveals protrusions, trenches, holes and irregularities in the gaseous material.
This 3D print is based on combined high-resolution spectroscopic data from the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) with data from the Hubble Space Telescope by Steffen et al., 2014.
