6dF Galaxy Survey: Beyond the Crux

Submitted to the ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Centers)
Fulldome Video Showcase by Spitz Inc.
ASTC screening at the University of Louisville's Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium
October 2006

Program (pdf)

Also part of the Graphite (ACM Siggraph) Fulldome showreel, December 2007.


Quote: The 6dF Galaxy Survey has collected more than 120,000 red shifts over the southern sky over a 5 year period from 2001 to 2005. Its goal is to map our southern view of the local universe, and use the peculiar motions of one-tenth of the survey to measure galaxy mass. It covers more than eight times the sky area of the successful 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey.

Credits
Data: Anglo-Australian Observatory, 6dF data date: June 2006.
Visuals and animation: Paul Bourke
Music: Peter Morse, Glenn Rogers

Specifications
Computing: Single Mac G5 (WASP, University of Western Australia)
Length: 2 min 20 sec.
Frames: Fisheye projections, 3600x3600 pixels at 30 fps.
Rendering: Locally developed software tools for rendering, animation, stitching, compositing, effects.

Sample frames


Introductory flight into the
Southern Hemisphere dataset.

Cumulative particle
density rendering.

Transition from particles to
galaxy texture representation.

Travel through and eventually
out of the survey data.

Close pass by
some galaxies.
QuickTime sample movies
500x500 pixels
1024x1024 pixels


Also rendered as a stereoscopic 3D movie, side-by-side stereo at 1024x768 per eye.