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VRML Preview Highlights from the Library

The Astronomy Digital Image Library is experimenting with VRML previews of 3-D images. Below are some sample visualizations from the Library's collection. To view VRML the files, you will need a VRML viewer, and your Web browser should be properly configured to send the files to your viewer.

Starburst Galaxy M82

The 3D image cube in this project, derived from observations with the BIMA Millimeter Array, show the molecular gas in this irregular galaxy that is undergoing a period of active star formation. The VRML image reveals the unusual rotation pattern of the gas within the galaxy.

View VRML visualization
Starburst Galaxy NGC 1068

This spiral galaxy is also undergoing a burst of star formation. In this image from the BIMA array, the molecular gas is concentrated along the galaxy's spiral arms. The VRML visualization shows how the perturb the gas motion from simple circular rotation.
View VRML visualization
Ursa Major Molecular Cloud

This study illustrates how two chemical components are distributed differently within an interstellar cloud. Observations show that the neutral atomic hydrogen gas is distributed throughout the bulk of the cloud, while carbon monoxide (CO) gas is confined to denser filaments within the larger cloud.

View VRML visualization of the cloud's hydrogen gas distribution
View VRML visualization of the cloud's CO gas distribution

View a VRML "close-up" of hydrogen in a subregion of the cloud
View a VRML "close-up" of CO in a subregion of the cloud
View a VRML "close-up" of CO in another subregion of the cloud

Evolved star IRC+10216

The three image cubes in this project show the expanding envelope around a star near the end of its lifetime. Each cube shows the emission from a different molecular species: CN, HCN, and H13CN.

View VRML visualization: 3 images together
CN: Isosurface representation -- Orthogonal Slices
HCN: Isosurface representation -- Orthogonal Slices
H13CN: Isosurface representation -- Orthogonal Slices
Bi-polar Outflow Sources: NGC 2024 and the Orion Molecular Cloud

Newly forming stellar system often go through a period in which gas is ejected from the core of the system in two opposite directions. Systems undergoing this phase are referred to as bi-polar outflow sources. Two such sources are featured these VRML visualizations of molecular gas caught up in the outflow:
View VRML visualization of the Orion Molecular Cloud
View VRML visualization of NGC 2024
Variations on these visualizations with different iso-surface levels can be accessed from the Project Pages for the studies of the Orion Molecular Cloud and NGC 2024 that resulted in this data.
Three spiral galaxies: NGC 7793, NGC 300, and NGC 55.

Neutral hydrogen gas was observed in each of these galaxies by the Very Large Array radio telescope. The VRML visualizations illustrate the rotation of gas within the galaxys' disks.
NGC 7793: Isosurface representation -- Column Density & Velocity Field
NGC 300: Isosurface representation -- Column Density & Velocity Field
NGC 55: Isosurface representation -- Column Density & Velocity Field

NCSA Astronomy Digital Image Library   Image Highlights Get By Code Data Search
The AstronomyDigital Image Library is a project of Radio Astronomy Imaging Team
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Contact the ADIL: adil@ncsa.uiuc.edu