bringing modern astronomical research to the public · today the modern digital planetarium can...

Bringing modern astronomical research to the public

Martin RatcliffeSky-Skan, Inc.

Wichita State University

Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe2/24/2011

Introduction•Why should we educate the public in astronomy?

•Describe the planetarium of yesterday and today

•Follow development of planetariums in parallel with some

•Astronomical discoveries

•Describe some individual planetarium/astro research projects includin

•Case history: Malargue and Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory

•Exoplanets

•Asteroids/NEO’s

•Galaxies

•Cosmology

2/24/2011 Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe


In the US at least, science research is funded through discretionary spending

of tax dollars.

Science research is the bedrock of a productive modern society.

There is a latency in the timing of the impact of reduced science research

on the scale of decades (current generation may not see impact)

There’s a communication job required of scientists to communicate their

research effectively, creating a sustainable cultural environment for research

funding to continue.

Because of its stunning visual nature, astronomy has a fundamental role in

capturing the public’s attention, desire to learn, and support for science funding

Why public science education?Education and Public Outreach - EPO

“Planetarium” – (1) the building that houses a hemispherical domed theaterthat displays the motions of the sky (sun, moon, planets and stars) as viewed from Earth, and displays (in the modern digital planetarium) the relative position of the Earth in space, and (2) the projector that generates these astronomical views. The planetarium projector can be an opto-mechanical device, a digital video projection system, or a combination of both, popularly called a hybrid planetarium system.


Planetarium

First Planetarium ProjectorWalter Bauersfeld, 1919Carl Zeiss Company

The first public planetarium theater was opened in 1923 in Munich


Astronomy research note: You could make the argument that astronomy from the 16-19th

centuries involved cataloging everything in the sky (Henry Draper, Messier, NGC (Dreyer) etc.

Advent of slides, panoramas, all skies, bringing other worlds to the dome

Examples, Apollo moon landings, the voyager missions

Concept of taking people to other worlds, experience the surroundings

Immersive: As if you were there on the surface of a planet or inside a pre-solar nebulaBUT…..2D flat images


The Space Age and Planetarium development

Digistar – first real break from traditonal opto- mechanical Planetarium projector. Hipparcosdatabase used to build 3D CG model showing points with position AND distance.

Caligraphic video, enables complex models to be directly drawn

Big plus: show that constellations are pure line of sight effects

Limitations: faint, monochromatic, fuzzyAstronomy research note: John Huchra and Margaret Geller, measured positions of Thousands of galaxies discovered Great Wall of galaxies – first evidence for largeScale structure of universe and giant filaments surrounding voids

The 1980’s


Television began changing to digital video allowing 3D computer graphics and elaborate special effects to appear in homes.

These techniques were applied for the first time in 1984-86 at the Armagh Planetarium, Northern Ireland, UK.

Video sequences rendered and playedBack through multiple video projectorsreplacing hundreds of slide projectorsand special effects.

Dome becomes dynamic…and interactive


The 1980’s cont’d

1996: Full dome full color video

1998: commercial US full dome video Playback only of pre-rendered video

2002: First real-time full color, full dome star projection

Astronomy research note: Sloan Digital Sky Survey releases first data showing a million galaxies, revealing the large scale structure of the universe, and Supporting the Cold Dark Matter model of the universe


The 1990’s – 2000’s


The 1990’s – 2000’s

Sloan Digital Sky Survey, 2000-2005

Digital Universe – Partiview

Astronomy research note: WMAP reveals fine details of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation.Dark Energy – ΛCDM supercomputer simulations recreate large scale structure.Era of precision cosmology

The Digital Universe……moving beyond our galaxy to view the large scale structure of the universe


Earth’s place in the Cosmos


For centuries humans held to the Aristotelian idea of an Earth-centered unive

surrounded by a crystalline sphere of stars.

It is a distinct irony that in the 1930’s we developed the technology to project

the starry sky onto a fixed dome around the same time that scientists

(Hubble, Humason, Slipher) discovered that the universe was filled with

galaxies and was expanding.

Seventy years later we developed the digital technology to show the

expanding universe filled with galaxies, although it is fair to say that

collecting the data for this view also took about 70 years.

Changing Concepts

Cosmology 1000 Years Ago (and Present-Day Congress)

Cosmology 1000 Years Ago Cosmology 1000 Years Ago (and Present(and Present--Day Congress)Day Congress)

Courtesy Rocky Kolb, U. Chicag2/24/2011 Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe

Complete Historyof the Universe

(Abridged)

Complete HistoryComplete Historyof the Universeof the Universe

(Abridged)(Abridged)

fraction of a second laterHot Primordial Soup

380,000 years laterRadiation Last Scattered

13.78 thousand-million years laterToday

Courtesy Rocky Kolb, U. Chicago2/24/2011 Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe


Changing ConceptsIn the past decade, planetarium technology has reached a capability to Directly import new astronomical datasets and display them in a compelling format that can be useful for both public education and research

Brent Tully: Galaxy dataset covering 380,000 light year cube centered on the Milky Way Galaxy. Research project with collaborators Helene Courtois.


Tully Galaxy Database

Millennium Simulation: largest cosmological simulation. One goal of digitalPlanetariums is to recreate a similar visual simulation in real-time using PC’s, anplace the audience “inside” the evolving universe.Current state of the art video cards can handle upwards of a few million particles in real-time.

Credit: V Springel, Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophy2/24/2011 Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe

2007: 100 real-time particles at interactive frame rates

2008: 400,000 particles at at interactive frame rates

2009: 1.5 million particles at at interactive frame rates

Goal: Make cosmological simulation data as ubiquitous as the night sky

Bolshoi simulation: Primack, et al. 20092/24/2011 Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe

Capability of PC’s in real-time planetarium applicat

Some questions related to a visual planetarium display of cosmological simulations.

•What are the main goals of showing a cosmological simulation in an Immersive environment?(e.g. Gravity is a universal force, that we can simulate the evolutionof the universe using gravity of matter, and that this represents atrustable method for understanding how our universe arose.)

•What specific perceptions does an audience take away having seena cosmological simulation?•Do these perceptions match what scientists understand are the most important things they want to convey to the broader audience?•What cultural impact is possible/desired by showing cosmologicalsimulations that aim to convey that science is beginning to answer fundamental questions about our origins? (e.g. large sections of society retain primitive beliefs about our universe and its origins, can this be changed?)


Real-timeAstronomers acquire/create dataFind data and …magic happens.Magic = talking to astronomers, use of data, create Astro viz, enable ease of use through GUI.


Digital planetariums now include visualizations such as the Earth’s magnetosphere, using

models developed by the research 2/24/2011 Physics Seminar, WSU Martin Ratcliffe

Solar System

Digital planetariums can go beyond astronomical visualizations and convey chemistry and

bi l i l l l

The Microcosm


Explore planets up-close with GIS functions, including Earth, Mars, Venus, and the Moon

Planetary Terrain maps


DigitalSky 2 Release 2

Galaxies with 3D depth effectsDigitalSky 2 Release 2DigitalSky 2 Release 2Daily Atmospheric Flows

Illustrating the Latest Global Weather PatternsGOES data mapped onto 3D Earth at high, medium and low altitudes



Case HistoryMalargue Planetarium and the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory (South)

Air showers caused by cosmic rays are detectBy fluorescence in the atmosphere (UV) and By

Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory



Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory (Sou

Malargue, Argentina


Malargue Planetarium, opened 200840 foot dome, Sky-Skan system includingDigitalSky 2.

Malargue Planetarium


Small community benefits by having theonly digital planetarium in ArgentinaVisitors travel from as far as Buenos AiresTo see the theater

Audience mainly school childrenWeekend publicFits into Malargue’s development planAs an expanding tourist destination

Malargue Planetarium


Other datasets

ExoplanetsAsteroidsNear Earth ObjectsRadio Astronomy – radio lobesGalaxy interactions – mergers


Asteroids/NEO’s


Conclusions

In the past 50 years, Planetariums have appealed to the public by showingStars, planets, and projected 2D objects onto the surface of a dome, with a starfield that indirectly re-enforced an earth centered view of the sky.

Today the modern digital planetarium can have a direct connection to the current astronomical research community and help communicate the presentExciting state of astronomy using recent results. This has the potential for a cultural change in the public’s perception of astronomy, of humanity’splace in the universe.

bringing modern astronomical research to the public · today the modern digital planetarium can...

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