Immersive virtual reality experiences for all-sky astronomical data
Made with s2plot and A-Frame WebVR, allskyVR allows astronomers to immerse themselves in all-sky data.
The software requires a compatible smart phone and Google cardboard viewer or high-end consumer VR head-mounted display.
To see an example in action: link
- Navigation: turn your head to see the celestial sphere around you.
- Menu: look for the Menu icon, line up the green circular target, hold your gaze steady and the menu will expand.
- Selection: to toggle visibility of a data category or the celestial coordinate system, line-up the reticule on the menu item and hold your gaze steady.
If you find allskyVR to be helpful to you, we would appreciate a citation to our publication:
Fluke, C.J., Barnes, D.G., 2017, Immersive Virtual Reality Experiences for All-Sky Data, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 35, e026 https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2018.19
Please refer to http://allskyvr.readthedocs.io for information on using the Quickstart and Fully Customisable modes, how to create your own data file, and modifying the data format (i.e. colours and sizes of markers).
The initial commit of allskyVR contains minimal inline comments. The emphasis has been on getting a working system available for testing.