AstroCubeVR

AstroCubeVR — immersive 3D exploration of astronomical datacubes, from Immersive Science.

Load FITS datacubes from ALMA and other radio telescopes and navigate through them in true 3D on Meta Quest.

Interactive measurement

• Measure distances directly in RA/Dec coordinates
• Real-time coordinate display with velocity at each point
• Automatic frequency-to-velocity conversion via Doppler formula
• Labels render clearly on top of volume data

Multi-channel spectral lines

• Load and compare CO, HCN, HNC, and other molecular emissions side by side
• Per-channel WCS from FITS headers
• Velocity-normalized Z-axis aligns Doppler-shifted features across channels

Native FITS support

• Load .fits and .fits.gz cubes directly — no conversion needed
• Full WCS header parsing with automatic voxel scaling
• REST frequency detection from headers or ALMA-style filenames
• ZIP support: download from Google Drive, extract and load automatically

Smart data handling

• Auto-optimizes oversized datasets to fit device memory
• Gaussian filtering preserves visual detail during optimization
• Progress feedback during loading — no frozen screens
• Desktop version available at immsci.com/volumeVR for full-resolution work

Collaborate

• Share a virtual space with colleagues — explore the same datacube together in real time

Pre-loaded datasets

• Curated nebula observations ready to explore on launch

Standalone on Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro.