Kimberly Arcand - Stars in Your Hand: A Guide to 3D Printing the Cosmos

Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke

The MIT Press

Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England

2022 Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.

The MIT Press would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers who provided comments on drafts of this book. The generous work of academic experts is essential for establishing the authority and quality of our publications. We acknowledge with gratitude the contributions of these otherwise uncredited readers.

This book was set in ITC Stone Serif Std and Avenir LT Std by The MIT Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Arcand, Kimberly, 1975- author. | Watzke, Megan K., author.

Title: Stars in your hand : a guide to 3D printing the cosmos / Kimberly

Arcand and Megan Watzke.

Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2022] | Includes

index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021046827 | ISBN 9780262544153 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Astronomy--Technological innovations. | Three-dimensional

printing.

Classification: LCC QB47 .A68 2022 | DDC 522--dc23/eng/20211130

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046827

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Science progresses best when observations force us to alter our perceptions.

Vera Rubin (19282016)

A mention of new dimensions and space perhaps invokes an episode from a science fiction show or plot from a futuristic fantasy novel. But the information in this book is not about warp speeds or wormholes. Everything presented in this book is based on research happening here and now and rooted in scientific data.

Astronomers have done remarkably well learning about our Universe, despite having been largely confined to this planet. Of the billions of people that have lived on Earth, only a few hundred have traveled to what is essentially a hair widths distance (a few hundred miles) above its surface. The Apollo program sent a handful of people to the Moon, but our plans to return there and go on to Mars remain unfulfilled, and destinations beyond remain aspirational.

While much has been learned by sending machines into space, these robotic explorers have ventured into only a small fraction of our Solar System. Our planetary neighborhoodwhich consists of the Sun, the planets, moons, asteroids, and moreis one of thousands that we now know about within our Milky Way galaxy. Our Galaxy is but one of billions of these cosmic island universes, to borrow a phrase from the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble, each hosting billions of stars and a sea of planets.

The ingenuity and creativity needed for these achievements is indeed inspiring, but astronomers have consistently run into the same obstacle: looking at the flat projection, or two-dimensional (2D) view, the sky has offered them.

From Ptolemy to Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi to Vera Rubin, every astronomer across the centuries could only see data of objects in space from a certain point of view. A paleontologist can pick up a discovered fossil and look at it from all sides, and a botanist can examine the backside of a leaf under a microscope. Astronomers have never been able to do such things.

Of course, modern astronomers have an amazing suite of telescopes and observatories on the ground and in space that the scientists who went before them would consider revolutionary. Today, scientists can study objects in space in every type of lightspanning from radio waves to gamma raysand beyond into gravitational waves and neutrino signals.

Yet still, todays astronomers have generally faced the same hurdle as their scientific foremothers and forefathers: they could not go beyond the two-dimensional window our view of the Universe presented. Until now.

Astronomers have begun to take the vast reservoirs of data available to them and search for ways to go beyond a flattened view of space. Like learning a hidden language that was unknown to them previously, astronomers are now deciphering the code found in these data that reveal the three-dimensionality of space.

The golden age of astronomy, as some in the field call our current era, has arrived nearly simultaneously with giant leaps in technology. Supercomputers have continued their march to ever greater computational power as each year passes. What was seen as extraordinary in computing just a short time ago has become mundane. The computing chops of the current generation of smartphones, as an example, could only be found in special facilities not long ago.

Like two streams joining to create a mightier river, the separate advances both in telescopic capabilities and computer technologies have created a new way to explore the Universe: in three dimensions.

The possibilities of 3D technology (including 3D imaging, 3D printing, virtual reality, and holograms, for example) are exploding. Today, researchers can use 3D imaging to map the inside of the human brain or explore the structure of a newly emerging virus. We can now physically construct everything from sections of bridges to automotive parts to prosthetics using 3D printing.

But why try to learn about the Universe in 3D? First, it benefits science and the scientific process. Astronomers who think they understand the geometry and physics of objects by looking at traditional 2D data can discover new elements or aspects in the data that they didnt expect. There is new science to be learned only by going into the third dimension.

The second reason is that these 3D models and the resulting 3D prints are tools to engage with people in innovative ways. Many of us have seen stunning images produced by the worlds telescopes, but its another experience to fly virtually through one of these vistas or hold representations of these objects in your hand.

In short, the 3D Universe helps us go further in our exploration of space while simultaneously bringing space right back to us. It can be a bridge between what is out there and what we can experience here. And it gives us the possibility to explore these celestial and cosmic objects in a hands-on, tactile way if we have access to a 3D printer. This opens the door for people who are visually impaired and low-vision, and for any of us who benefit in learning from using the sense of touch.

Most humansat least in this generation and likely those that immediately followwill not travel into space. But science and technology have advanced where we can have pieces of space come down to us. Its a new way to teach, learn, explore, and be awestruck by the wonders that our Universe has to offer.

Here we are not solely talking about professional astronomers who can direct the worlds most powerful telescopes around the globe and in space. The 3D Universe in this book is available to anyone who is interested in astronomy, 3D technology, our place in the Universe, or just learning about something new. We have written this book in a way that we hope makes the science and the technology it draws on understandable and accessiblewith the only requirement being curiosity.

The possibilities of the 3D Universe can be right at your fingertips, no further away than turning the pages of this book. Links to all of the 3D models in this book, instructions on how to use a 3D printer, and other resources and updates are available at the companion website: https://starsinyourhand.pubpub.org/.