Related papers: Affordable Digital Planetariums with WorldWide Tel…
Most scientific data will never be directly examined by scientists; rather it will be put into online databases where it will be analyzed and summarized by computer programs. Scientists increasingly see their instruments through online…
Funded by a $3M Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Education Program (NDEP) award, we are developing and deploying on a national scale a follow-up curriculum to "Our Place In Space!", or OPIS!, in which approx. 3,500 survey-level…
Nowadays, computer simulations have reached amazing graphic results, providing awesome visual descriptions explaining the evolution of very complex physics phenomena, implementing the laws of Nature. Sometimes, without a scientific guide,…
In this paper, we assess the scientific promise and technology feasibility of distributed instruments for planetary science. A distributed instrument is an instrument designed to collect spatially and temporally correlated data from…
We summarize the scientific potential of high contrast optical space imaging for studies of extrasolar planets, debris disks, and planet formation. The unique scientific capabilities offered by a 2-m class optical telescope, the technical…
Some 400 years after Galileo, modern telescopes have enabled humanity to "see" what the natural eye cannot. Astronomical images today contain information about incredibly large objects located across vast distances and reveal information…
Spherical coordinate systems, which are ubiquitous in astronomy, cannot be shown without distortion on flat, two-dimensional surfaces. This poses challenges for the two complementary phases of visual exploration -- making discoveries in…
The number of small satellites has grown dramatically in the past decade from tens of satellites per year in the mid-2010s to a projection of tens of thousands in orbit by the mid-2020s. This presents both problems and opportunities for…
Three-dimensional (3D) visualization has opened up a Universe of possible scientific data representations. 3D printing has the potential to make seemingly abstract and esoteric data sets accessible, particularly through the lens of…
Visualising the three dimensional distribution of stars within a constellation is highly challenging for both students and educators, but when carried out in an interactive collaborative way it can create an ideal environment to explore…
The New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) is a 1-m solar telescope that aims to observe the fine structures in both the photosphere and the chromosphere of the Sun. The observational data acquired simultaneously from one channel for the…
We now know that the outer solar system is host to at least six diverse planetary ring systems, each of which is a scientifically compelling target with the potential to inform us about the evolution, history and even the internal structure…
Astronomical images and datasets are increasingly high-resolution and multi-dimensional. The vast majority of astronomers perform all of their visualisation and analysis tasks on low-resolution, two-dimensional desktop monitors. If there…
We review some aspects of the current state of data-intensive astronomy, its methods, and some outstanding data analysis challenges. Astronomy is at the forefront of "big data" science, with exponentially growing data volumes and data…
All sciences, including astronomy, are now entering the era of information abundance. The exponentially increasing volume and complexity of modern data sets promises to transform the scientific practice, but also poses a number of common…
By combining data from the text, citation, and reference databases with data from the ADS readership logs we have been able to create Second Order Bibliometric Operators, a customizable class of collaborative filters which permits…
A low cost remote imaging platform for biological applications was developed. The "Picroscope" is a device that allows the user to perform longitudinal imaging studies on multi-well cell culture plates. Here we present the network…
The field of extrasolar planets is still, in comparison with other astrophysical topics, in its infancy. There have been about 300 or so extrasolar planets detected and their detection has been accomplished by various different techniques.…
By digitizing astronomical photographic plates one may extract full information stored on them, something that could not be practically achieved with classical analogue methods. We are developing algorithms for variable objects search using…
Liquid mirror telescopes are of interest to Astronomy because of their very low capital and operating costs. Low cost has a potentially revolutionary impact since it allows one to dedicate a large telescope to a narrowly focused project…