“Stephan’s Quintet” is a work comprising five manually-animated galaxy holograms, generated from an iconic James Webb Space Telescope image and mapped out across the exhibition space as they appear in Webb’s original image. The original Stephan’s Quintet is a cluster of five galaxies, some in the process of colliding, approximately 290 million light-years from Earth.

Holographic displays are used to represent these vast, aeriform galactic structures in a manner impossible to achieve using traditional photographic or sculptural methods. Galaxy animations are generated using Blender, a 3D modeling and animation software. Each galaxy has distinct movement and aesthetic properties which are incorporated in the coloring, style, and animation.

One galaxy displayed in the lower left of the grouping, is so saturated with light that the detailed form of the galaxy can be difficult to discern. For this hologram, a distinct light pulse animation was added, which slowly consumes the entire form and then retreats to expose the galaxy’s details.

Holograms on display at “Unfolding the Universe: First Light” have been generously made possible by Looking Glass Factory’s innovative 3Dholographic display technology.