Apps ≫ PasiphaeVR Prototype

Step inside our Galaxy.

This VR experience combines the Gaia star map with measurements from PASIPHAE, a project that studies the faint “polarization” of starlight—a subtle signature imprinted as light travels through cosmic dust. That dust is gently guided by the Milky Way’s large-scale magnetic field, so the pattern in the light helps us trace how magnetism is arranged in the space between the stars.

In the app you can:
- Fly through a 3D view of the Milky Way built from ~140 million Gaia stars,
- See direction markers on selected stars that show how their light was affected on its journey to us,
- Explore different reconstructions of dust clouds, plus an all-sky dust map for context.

It’s real astronomy data, turned into a place you can explore, revealing the otherwise invisible structure of dust and magnetism that shapes our Galaxy.