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Augmented Reality in astrophysics

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Abstract

Augmented Reality consists of merging live images with virtual layers of information. The rapid growth in the popularity of smartphones and tablets over recent years has provided a large base of potential users of Augmented Reality technology, and virtual layers of information can now be attached to a wide variety of physical objects. In this article, we explore the potential of Augmented Reality for astrophysical research with two distinct experiments: (1) Augmented Posters and (2) Augmented Articles. We demonstrate that the emerging technology of Augmented Reality can already be used and implemented without expert knowledge using currently available apps. Our experiments highlight the potential of Augmented Reality to improve the communication of scientific results in the field of astrophysics. We also present feedback gathered from the Australian astrophysics community that reveals evidence of some interest in this technology by astronomers who experimented with Augmented Posters. In addition, we discuss possible future trends for Augmented Reality applications in astrophysics, and explore the current limitations associated with the technology. This Augmented Article, the first of its kind, is designed to allow the reader to directly experiment with this technology.

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Notes

  1. The Spacecraft 3D app is free to download. See NASA’s website for more information. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/app20120711.html.

  2. http://shortcutmedia.com/.

  3. http://layar.com/documentation/browser/layar-platform-overview/.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Bill Roberts and the IT team at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ANU) for their help in setting up the PDF3DReportGen software on the school servers. We also thank the anonymous referee for a very constructive review. We are grateful to the Kooaba team for allowing us to use their technology at the ASA AGM 2012. We thank the ASA AGM 2012 Local Organising Committee for their support in implementing Augmented Poster sessions during the conference. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Cotter Road, Weston Creek, ACT, 2611, Australia

    Frédéric P. A. Vogt & Luke J. Shingles

Authors
  1. Frédéric P. A. Vogt
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  2. Luke J. Shingles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frédéric P. A. Vogt.

Appendices

Appendix A: Vogt & Shingles Interactive Poster presented at the ASA AGM 2012

figure a

Appendix B: ASA AGM 2012 Feedback Survey on Augmented Posters

The original survey was hosted online and could be accessed freely, without any registration required. The access link was circulated in an email sent to all the conference attendees shortly after the end of the conference. The 9 questions (and available answers to choose from) are listed below.

  1. 1.

    Did you attend this year’s ASA AGM in Sydney?

    • Yes

    • No

  2. 2.

    Did you bring a poster with you?

    • Yes

    • No

  3. 3.

    Did you upload your poster on the online database to make it interactive?

    • Yes

    • No

    • I just told you I had no poster …

  4. 4.

    Did you know that the poster sessions were interactive (i.e that you could access related information by taking pictures of posters of interest)?

    • Yes, I knew it before the conference started.

    • Yes, but I only found out after the conference started.

    • No

  5. 5.

    Did you try to use the Shortcut app during the poster sessions?

    • Yes

    • No, because I did not want to/ was not interested.

    • No, because I don’t have a smartphone.

    • No, because … [this option required to specify a reason]

  6. 6.

    What did you think of these interactive poster sessions?

    • Useless

    • Not terribly useful

    • They have some potential

    • Somewhat useful

    • Extremely useful

  7. 7.

    Would you be interested to see this technology implemented in other conferences, such as the ASA AGM 2013 for example?

    • Yes

    • No

    • I don’t care

  8. 8.

    Do you have any specific comment? [Answer to this question was free and optional]

  9. 9.

    Final question! You are …

    • an undergraduate student

    • a PhD student

    • a postdoc

    • a professor

    • something else

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Vogt, F.P.A., Shingles, L.J. Augmented Reality in astrophysics. Astrophys Space Sci 347, 47–60 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-013-1499-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-013-1499-x

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