November 30, 2025
Space goes 3D; comments go supernova
Stereo Images of Giant Galaxies
Queen guitarist’s 3D galaxies spark VR vs paper brawl
TLDR: Brian May’s new book turns distant galaxies into 3D eye candy, but the crowd is split on how to view them. Fans argue for VR apps, cross-eyed formats, DIY stereoscopes, and iPad hacks—showing the gap between cutting-edge space visuals and everyday ways to experience them.
Rock legend–turned-astrophysicist Sir Brian May dropped a coffee-table stunner, Islands in Infinity: Galaxies 3D, and the internet immediately split into tribes over how to actually see the stars pop. The book uses stereo photography—two slightly different images your brain fuses into 3D with a special viewer—and that simple fact lit the comments on fire.
On one side, the cross-eyed crew demanded a different viewing format: “make it cross-eyed or bust,” said one user. The VR faithful were louder, practically begging: why are we still squinting at paper when headsets exist? One Meta Quest fan called this a “VR thirst trap” without an app to drink from. Meanwhile, the DIY tinkerers flexed: a commenter plans to print pages for an antique stereoscope and even shared laser-cut acrylic parts and a [GitHub] hack to build your own viewer. Peak maker energy.
Not everyone was dazzled. A blunt take labeled images 3 and 4 “underwhelming,” while another turned an iPad into a budget 3D theater—zoom in, shove it a few inches from your face, let the brain magic happen, glasses off like it’s 2009. Between the paper vs headset war, the viewer vs cross-eyed skirmish, and the maker vs minimalist duel, Brian May’s galaxies did more than pop—they ignited a star-sized debate over how we experience wonder.
Key Points
- •Sir Brian May, Derek Ward-Thompson, and J-P Metsavainio released Islands in Infinity: Galaxies 3D, using stereo photography to depict galaxies in 3D.
- •The article provides instructions for viewing the stereo images with a special viewer at 10–15 cm from the screen.
- •The book was launched in mid-November in Notting Hill, London, with a lecture and projections of 3D galaxy images.
- •May’s background includes a 2007 astrophysics doctorate and previous stereoscopic space books via The London Stereoscopic Company.
- •Ward-Thompson highlights evolving knowledge, including the Milky Way’s classification as a barred spiral galaxy, and notes one featured galaxy was his PhD thesis.