14 DAY TRIAL // Visual impairments aren't good things to suffer from, but many people do so regardless, due to injuries or illnesses. That doesn't mean that the world is ready to give up on them though.
The blind (and partially blind) may lack the ability to see or recognize colors, and their capacity for building a mental 3D model of an object is not helped either.
Fortunately, humans are very creative when they want to be, and there are many ways that the other senses can be exploited to at least make up for the lack of sight.
Braille was the first major sign, a language made of dots on a page. Dots that can be read with the fingertips.
Now, a team of scientists from the Space Telescope Science Institute have created 3D printed models of pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope. They are meant to allow people with eye conditions to get a feel for what has been providing the world with most of the high-resolution photos of the cosmos.
The project was developed by astronomers Carol Christian and Antonella Nota after they bought a 3D printer last year, with money from a Hubble education and public outreach grant.
They got the help of over 100 volunteers of all ages from the National Federation of the Blind to help create the best design possible. Eventually, they were able to create good mental models of such things as the star cluster NGC 602 in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
The printouts are made of plastic. They intend to eventually create a whole model of the Small Magellanic Cloud itself, a blue-glowing, geode-shaped neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way.