iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

By popular demand, I wrote a blog post explaining the web app that I built last week: the Galaxy Manifold. jwuphysics.github.io/blog/2026-10...

A preview of the Galaxy Manifold page at https://galaxy-manifold.github.io, showing the SFR-stellar mass correlation with galaxy image cutouts on a grid.

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm starting to add more space missions, like Hubble to Skymap. (skymap.rulkens.com/#focus=body-hubble). All using freely available models. I hope to add JWST soon and visualize its trajectory at the L2 point. #astronomy #dataviz 🔭

A visualization of Hubble floating above the earths surface.

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Getting some great shots of Perseverance with my new atmosphere system and 3D terrain. #dataviz #astronomy 🔭 in skymap.rulkens.com. Navigate to Mars and check it out!

Perseverance on the martian surface at sunset

Perseverence on the martian surface, in the distance

The landing area of Perseverance on Mars, with low sun

A close-up of perseverance with the sun behind it.

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Working on 3D terrain for Mars in skymap. Quite some work, and pretty tricky getting camera movement to work properly. But it already looks nice with Perseverance! skymap.rulkens.com, #astronomy 🔭 #devlog

Perseverence rendered on the mars surface

A whole view of Mars with a label noting where the Perseverance rover is placed.

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

JBGarrity Photography @joegarrity.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The Veil Complex is a supernova remnant; it exploded 8,000 years ago and was 20 times the mass of our Sun. Ancient humans saw it shining as brightly as a crescent moon. High-resolution: app.astrobin.com/i/pf03ad #astrophotography #astronomy #naturephotography #nature #eastcoastkin #photography

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

JBGarrity Photography @joegarrity.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The Rosette Nebula is a cloud of cosmic dust and gas. The open star cluster NGC 2244 sits at its center; the hot, young stars ionize its gas, supercharging its glow. High-resolution: app.astrobin.com/i/o3k14i #astrophotography #astronomy #naturephotography #nature #eastcoastkin #photography

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

JBGarrity Photography @joegarrity.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

My 2-panel mosaic of Wolf-Rayet 134 and its surrounding nebulosity. Each panel has about 100 images, 27.5 hrs per panel, roughly 55.5 hrs of integration. High-resolution: app.astrobin.com/i/fvf2rm #astrophotography #astronomy #naturephotography #nature #longexposure #eastcoastkin #photography

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

You can now explore Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy in Skymap! You can also see the orbits of the stars orbiting the black hole, with orbital periods sourced from literature.Feedback is very welcome! skymap.rulkens.com#focus=body-s... #astrovis #astronomy 🔭

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Our home planet, with the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) on the background. Playing around with skymap.rulkens.com #astronomy 🔭 #datavis

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Quite happy with the new atmosphere renderer for planets and moons. Here is Titan with haze, and Mars with dust in the air and Earth at sunset. Feel free to explore it in skymap.rulkens.com ! Feedback is very welcome 🙏 #astronomy 🔭 #dataviz

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 16/09/2025

🐦 Fly through a 3D map of stellar nurseries ✨ Scientists have created the most accurate 3D map of star-formation regions in our Milky Way galaxy, based on data from #ESAGaia. The map extends to a distance of 4000 light-years from us, with the Sun at the centre 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭 🧪

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Trying to improve my galaxy renderer. Getting realistic arms, dust lanes, HII complexes and filamentary structures, while keeping it fully interactive is really hard! I'm not quite satisfied with the result. Any tips or help welcome! 🔭 #astronomy #astrovis #webgpu

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

Robert Kosara @eagereyes.org · 21/06/2026

I've built a solargraph simulator using solar irradiation data. Pick a place on Earth, animate the solargraph, draw just one point per hour for analemma view, or switch to panorama mode that projects the solargraph into a virtual sky you can navigate. eagereyes.org/app/solargraph

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Experimenting with navigating around a small wedge from the DESI data. Every point you see here is a galaxy with billions of stars... 🤯🔭 skymap.rulkens.com #astroviz #astronomy #datavis

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Mars is in! A little bit too saturated (I'm aware of it, I need to do some proper calibration of the source textures). But it looks pretty epic! skymap.rulkens.com/#focus=body-mars #astroviz 🔭 Also testing deep linking, so you can link directly! Textures from www.solarsystemscope.com/textures/

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

Piccalilli @piccalil.li · 17/12/2025

Scroll through from the tiniest organism right up to the largest. All beautifully hand-illustrated by an actual human. neal.fun/size-of-life/

neal.fun

Size of Life

From an amoeba to a blue whale

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Absolutely beautiful project. And an amazing wat to present the data. #datavis

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Working on a realistic planet rendering system, including atmosphere simulation. Here is Saturn!

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Working on a realistic earth rendering for skymap. #dataviz #astronomy skymap.rulkens.com

Realistic atmosphere and cloud rendering for earth

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

Seán Doran @theseaning.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

"Crazy Beautiful!" 5,234 images from 2 time-lapse sequences photographed by Sophie Adenot & Jessica Meir on ISS Expedition 74 are repaired, remastered & retimed to create this video of aurora australis with music by Andreas Vollenweider. 11m19s 4K youtu.be/22mTjdmpG1M

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

Seán Doran @theseaning.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

'The Shining' 2,998 images from a time-lapse sequence photographed by Jessica Meir on ISS Expedition 74 are repaired, remastered & retimed to create this moment of zen, shining satellites & Aurora Australis with music by Andreas Vollenweider. 06m38s 4K youtu.be/_l50gsHbGKo

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 24/06/2026

This is the most detailed view of the centre of the Milky Way ever acquired—taken by ESA's Euclid space telescope on 23 March 2025. There's about 60 million stars in this view. On *average*, there's about one exoplanet per star. So there's about 60 million planets in this view.

A remarkably dense starfield with deep purple colours at upper left that grade towards more yellowish colours at lower right. There are some dark, irregular spots especially in the lower half of the image.

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Zooming out all the way from earth to the edge of the observable universe in Skymap. skymap.rulkens.com #astroviz #dataviz #webgpu

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Working on integrating a slime-mold visualization of the cosmic web into skymap.rulkens.com. #webgpu #dataviz

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Working on a semi-realistic galaxy renderer in WebGPU for Skymap:

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I've been finally finding time to work on my personal portfolio. Have a look at it and tell me what you think! rulkens.com

rulkens.com

Alexander Rulkens

Frontend Design, Light Art, Data Visualization and more.

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Reposted by Alexander Rulkens

Matt Keeter @mattkeeter.com · 04/05/2026

making really good progress on the new raytracer – this is with caustics and subsurface scattering turned on

A green milk glass mug labelled "Oxide computer company" sits on a glass coaster, on a wooden tray. It is partially full of brown team, which is visible through the top and (translucently) through the side of the mug. The mug casts a shadow with a faint caustic; more caustics are visible on the white wall behind the tray.

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Alexander Rulkens @rulkens.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Built skymap last weekend in 4 days: an interactive WebGPU 3D explorer for SDSS, 2MRS, and GLADE galaxy catalogs, running in the browser. No install (Chrome / Edge 113+, Firefox 141+, Safari 26+). Live: skymap.rulkens.com Source: github.com/rulkens/skymap #astrodataviz #astronomy #webgpu

skymap.rulkens.com

Skymap — Interactive 3D Galaxy Catalog Explorer (WebGPU)

Fly through millions of galaxies in your browser. WebGPU 3D explorer for the SDSS, GLADE, and 2MRS catalogs with cosmic-web filaments.

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