New insights in astrophysics are being formed by researchers at the Institute for Computational Astrophysics (ICA) at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, because of their walk-in, 3D immersive display system called "The Data CAVE," and Mechdyne's vGEO™ visualization software.
The ICA was formed eight years ago to serve as a home where astrophysics students and faculty could develop and apply high performance computing to complex astrophysical problems, including visualization of three dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic calculations.
Dr. Robert Deupree, Director of the ICA, says the four walled Data CAVE, which was installed in 2007, allows researchers in the Astrophysics program at St. Mary's to be at the forefront of innovation, and to push their work to new heights through their collaboration with ACEnet, a partnership of ten Atlantic Canadian Universities.
ICA's Data CAVE is based on the FLEX™ visualization display system, designed and integrated by Mechdyne. In less than five minutes, anyone in ICA can configure the FLEX into a flat vertical display, a three sided immersive room, or an angled wall.