A 3D-printed map of the oldest light in the universe has been created by researchers at Imperial College London, and you can download the files and your print your own baby universe.<\/p>\n
The cosmic microwave background is a glow that the universe has in the microwave range that maps the oldest light in the universe. It was imprinted when the universe first became transparent, instead of an opaque fog of plasma and radiation.<\/p>\n
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) formed when the universe was only 380,000 years old – very early on in its now 13.8 billion-year history.<\/p>\n
The Planck satellite is making ever-more detailed maps of the CMB, which tells astronomers more about the early universe and the formation of structures within it, such as galaxies. However, more detailed maps are increasingly difficult to view and explore.<\/p>\n
To solve this difficulty, Dr. Dave Clements<\/a> from the Department of Physics at Imperial, and two final-year undergraduate students in Physics, have created the plans for 3D printing the CMB.<\/p>\n Dr Clements explains:<\/p>\n “Presenting the CMB in a truly 3D form, that can be held in the hand and felt rather than viewed, has many potential benefits for teaching and outreach work, and is especially relevant for those with a visual disability. Differences in the temperature of the CMB relate to different densities, and it is these that spawned the formation of structure in the universe, including galaxies, galaxy clusters and superclusters.<\/p>\n Representing these differences as bumps and dips on a spherical surface allows anyone to appreciate the structure of the early universe. For example, the famous ‘CMB cold spot’, an unusually low temperature region in the CMB, can be felt as a small but isolated depression.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The 3D Cosmic Microwave Background Map can be printed from a range of 3D printers, and two files types have been created by the team:<\/p>\n STL stands for \u201cstereolithography\u201d, which is a 3D rendering that contains only a single color. This is the file format most people would use with desktop 3D printers.<\/p>\n VRML (\u201cvermal\u201d, .WRL file extension) stands for \u201cVirtual Reality Modeling Language\u201d. VRML is a newer digital 3D file type that also includes color, so it can be used on desktop 3D printers with more than one extruder (i.e. two more nozzles that each can print with a different color plastic), or with full-color binder jetting technology.<\/p>\n You can download the files at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\nPrinting It Out<\/h2>\n
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