Inspired by a magic trick from the 19th century, researchers have developed 3D holograms that let people watch how massive stars form before their eyes. The holograms will be demonstrated by Dr. Anne Buckner at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Lancaster on July 1-4.
"Our research focusses on how massive stars form" she explains, "it's inherently an abstract and complex topic to non-experts, so we developed the 3D holograms to help explain it in an easy to understand and visually engaging way".
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"We wanted to excite school kids about astrophysics" says Buckner. Virtual reality headsets were an obvious choice, but they were too expensive, and would be impractical for large audiences, so Buckner took inspiration from an unlikely source: 19th century magic shows.
"As a fan of magic I was aware of an illusion called 'Pepper's Ghost' which has been around since the 1800s" she says. "We wondered if we could adapt something similar to this to work for astronomy, and as a result we have the ability to project 3D holograms bringing millions of years of stellar evolution to life".
(Image Credit: Dr. Anne Buckner)