Hold the Universe in your Hands

Astronomical images are inherently two dimensional. This is a result of the vast distances betwen objects in the universe. From our vantage point on Earth, the universe appears as a flat projection on the sky. Our fleet of orbiting telescopes typically give us information of the flat view they observe. While there have been spacecraft that allow some more dimensional scans of nearby objects within our Solar System, they are a tiny fraction of what astronomers can explore.

Despite our limited abilities to travel to distant objects in space, astrophysicists, computer scientists, and other engineers, technicians and developers are creating new techniques to push astronomy visualization beyond 2D images, to images that include time, and even towards data representation that includes the third dimension in space.

Taking advantage of recent advances in the field of 3D printing, combined with enhanced three-dimensional astronomical data products, we have collected a growing number of high-fidelity models of astronomical objects that are print ready. Click on the order page to explore the available models and put in an order for your very own astronmoical 3D print!