SJAA Imaging 9/16/2025: Illustrating Astrophysics for the Public

From Data to Art: Illustrating Astrophysics for the Public
Robert Hurt

Astronomy is a science that benefits from the intrinsic beauty of so much of its data. It naturally draws in people and engages their curiosity. Renderings of observations from across the electromagnetic spectrum tell amazing stories of stars, nebulae, and galaxies. But there are so many other discoveries in astronomy that are deduced from less visually intuitive datasets, often through complex—and difficult to explain—analysis. These are the stories need to be visualized in artwork that is well-motivated by the science. From galaxies to black holes to exoplanets, this talk covers some of the process that can produce meaningful illustrations to visually explain our astrophysics tales.

************************* This is an online event *************************

The Imaging SIG meets roughly every month online to discuss topics about imaging. The SIG is open to people with absolutely no experience but want to learn what it’s all about, but experienced imagers are also more than welcome, indeed, encouraged to participate.