3D Model of the 2MASS Redshift Survey

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the creation and availability of a 3D model of the data from the 2MASS Redshift Survey. Participants explore the challenges associated with accurately representing astronomical data in three dimensions, particularly concerning the measurement of distances to celestial objects.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about the existence of a 3D model of the 2MASS Survey data, suggesting it should be easy to code.
  • Another participant counters that creating such a model is not straightforward due to difficulties in obtaining accurate distances for all objects.
  • A different viewpoint proposes using polar coordinates for a 3D representation, with distance scaled by redshift and angular positions defined by a 2D plot.
  • One participant agrees with the idea of using polar coordinates but emphasizes the necessity of having reliable redshift or distance measurements for all objects, noting that some galaxies lack this data.
  • A later reply shares a link to a website that offers a 3D model of galaxies, mentioning the high hardware requirements for running the program effectively.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the feasibility of creating a 3D model, with some acknowledging the challenges while others suggest potential methods. No consensus is reached regarding the ease of coding such a model or the completeness of the available data.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations related to the availability of accurate distance measurements for various celestial objects, which affects the ability to create a comprehensive 3D model.

Who May Find This Useful

Astronomy enthusiasts, researchers interested in astronomical data visualization, and those exploring the 2MASS Redshift Survey may find this discussion relevant.

Vorde
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Does anyone know of a 3D model of the data from the 2MASS Survey? I have to imagine it would be incredibly easy to code, but I haven't found one.

Thank you.
 
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It is not so very easy to code, as people have a hard time getting distances to all the objects right.
 
It may just be me talking without really knowing what I'm talking about and sounding like an idiot. But couldn't you have a 3D space with all coordinates in polar form, the distance from the center (us) would be an arbitrary number but scaled by redshift and the degrees x/y specified by the position on the 2D plot?
 
Hi,

You would be completely right if we would have a good measure of the redshift/distance/(any other measure of the distance to us) for all objects. For some galaxies we do, for some we don't and for objects in the Milky Way these are absent (and do not correspond to distance, but only to relative velocity if present). I think that is the main reason this does not exist. For the spectroscopic sample of SDSS, for example, we do have redshifts for many objects. There are movies available of this 3D map on youtube and elsewhere on the web.

Cheers, Harcel
 
Thank you, that makes sense to me.
 
Just as an update to this, by complete chance I stumbled upon a website that did just what I was looking for, including the program to view a 3D model of all the galaxies in their database (400,000+). Here's the link to the page, scroll down and you will see a download link:

http://astro.uchicago.edu/cosmus/projects/sloangalaxies/

As a note, the program is super hardware demanding, I have a quad core i7 and 8 gig of RAM and it is very stuttery for me.
 

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