The Tactile Universe has been developed by the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation to engage the blind and visually impaired community with astrophysics research.
It involves a series of 3-D printed images of galaxies that allow blind and visually impaired children to ‘see’ the universe by feeling the shapes of these astronomical objects.
Project lead and visually impaired astronomer Dr. Nicolas Bonne said, “I’ve had my eye condition from birth, and I decided that I wanted to be an astronomer at the very young age of 5. My parents and teachers were pretty supportive and they did everything that they could to help me learn about what is fundamentally a very visual science. This wasn’t always easy though, and this was often due to limited accessible astronomy resources for people with vision impairments.”