Dear Colleagues,

The Chandra X-ray Center is pleased to announce a beta version of PinpointWCS.

PinpointWCS simplifies retrieval of world coordinate system (WCS) data from FITS
images for outreach astronomy images. Desktop planetarium packages aware of
these data can intelligently position astronomical images on the digital sky
lending a unique context to the outreach image.

Please find more information at:
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~akapadia/pinpointwcs/

We are looking for feedback from the community with suggestions on how to
improve this software.  We look forward to hearing your feedback, and working
towards a full release!  And please share this with whomever may be interested.

Enjoy!
Amit Kapadia
and Kim Arcand

 

My last email listed the speakers for the special session. In between
the 6 ten minute talks, we plan to play other astronomy visualizations
by the folks on this mailing list. Hence, we need to submit our works
and choose the ones for the session.

First note is that we have time. Only the speakers are listed in the
AAS materials, so we can make our own deadlines. We can take a
month to select viz with no worries.

I would like to keep the submission procedure as simple as
possible. The easiest thing would be to post a link to your
movie file that folks could download and review. The second
easiest would be to upload the files to a central place and
put together a simple web page for one stop reviewing. Any
preferences for one method or the other?

Any worries about keeping visuals non-public? Working at STScI,
all our stuff is public, but some may not be able to share widely.
Please voice your concerns and we'll develop a way to keep things
off the public posts.

Suggested guidelines:

-- Any topic of astronomy visualization is suitable for consideration

-- Maximum length of 2 or 3 minutes

-- Post in a format that is download and playback friendly - smaller
files and widely used formats appreciated - you can submit higher
quality for the final when selected

-- Submission deadline of perhaps Friday, October 23?

Reviews and voting will have to be handled by email and not
public postings. I have a list of 8 people who volunteered to
help with things at the Astro-Viz meeting in SF. I hope they
are still willing to help and I'll be contacting you soon.

Please join into the discussion as this is to represent our
community at the AAS.

Frank

Space Telescope Science Institute 410-338-4749
3700 San Martin Dr 410-338-4579 (fax)
Baltimore, MD 21218 summers@stsci.edu
http://terpsichore.stsci.edu/~summers/
http://twitter.com/franksummers/

My last email listed the speakers for the special session. In between
the 6 ten minute talks, we plan to play other astronomy visualizations
by the folks on this mailing list. Hence, we need to submit our works
and choose the ones for the session.

First note is that we have time. Only the speakers are listed in the
AAS materials, so we can make our own deadlines. We can take a
month to select viz with no worries.

I would like to keep the submission procedure as simple as
possible. The easiest thing would be to post a link to your
movie file that folks could download and review. The second
easiest would be to upload the files to a central place and
put together a simple web page for one stop reviewing. Any
preferences for one method or the other?

Any worries about keeping visuals non-public? Working at STScI,
all our stuff is public, but some may not be able to share widely.
Please voice your concerns and we'll develop a way to keep things
off the public posts.

Suggested guidelines:

-- Any topic of astronomy visualization is suitable for consideration

-- Maximum length of 2 or 3 minutes

-- Post in a format that is download and playback friendly - smaller
files and widely used formats appreciated - you can submit higher
quality for the final when selected

-- Submission deadline of perhaps Friday, October 23?


Reviews and voting will have to be handled by email and not
public postings. I have a list of 8 people who volunteered to
help with things at the Astro-Viz meeting in SF. I hope they
are still willing to help and I'll be contacting you soon.

Please join into the discussion as this is to represent our
community at the AAS.


Frank

Space Telescope Science Institute    410-338-4749
3700 San Martin Dr                   410-338-4579 (fax)
Baltimore, MD 21218                  summers@...
http://terpsichore.stsci.edu/~summers/
http://twitter.com/franksummers/

Folks,

My apologies I've been distracted by Hubble EROs and the
Imax film work and ignored the special session stuff.

First, the speakers for the session are below. Robert and
I had some protracted discussions getting down to just
six speakers, and the selection tries to reflect the diversity
of the field from science to art and images to movies.
There are some very talented folks and exciting projects
who we did not have room to invite, so these speakers
serve as representatives of the excellent work across
our field.


Visualizing Simulations of Star Formation and Galaxy Formation
Tom Abel

Producing "Journey to the Stars"
Carter Emmart

Reality Rendered as Art: When Data Is Not Enough
Robert Hurt

Going Beyond RGB: How to Create Color Composite Images
that Convey the Science
Travis Rector

Astronomical Video Suites
Jose Francisco Salgado

Science, Data, and Art in the Imax Film "Hubble 3D"
Frank Summers


I'll send a second email to discuss submitting visualizations
for playing in between the speakers' talks.

Frank

Space Telescope Science Institute    410-338-4749
3700 San Martin Dr                   410-338-4579 (fax)
Baltimore, MD 21218                  summers@...
http://terpsichore.stsci.edu/~summers/
http://twitter.com/franksummers/

Astro-Viz folks,

Many of you were at Astro-Viz '09 in San Francisco where we
discussed having a special session at the upcoming AAS
meeting. The idea was to repeat the successful session I
organized for the 2006 AAS winter meeting. This time, I
submitted a proposal with Robert Hurt as the co-organizer.

I'm pleased to tell you that the special session proposal
for the January 2010 AAS Meeting in Washington, DC was
accepted. The session has been scheduled for 90 minutes on
the afternoon of January 4, 2010.

Here is the title and abstract:

----------

Astronomy Visualization: Where Science Meets Art

Astronomy is arguably the most visual of the sciences. Its
images do not just appeal to researchers, but amaze the
general public as well. However, in creating astronomy
visualizations how does one garner the attention of
audiences now accustomed to explosive starship battles and
automagically transforming robots? The proliferation of
fantasy computer graphics increases the challenge of
communicating science.

The goal is to create imagery that is both scientifically
valid and visually engaging: to embody both accuracy and
aesthetics. Such scientific visualization work requires a
range of skills spanning astronomical knowledge,
computational skill, and artistic vision. The most
successful projects are generally those that involve close
interaction between both visualizers and researchers.

This session will bring together both astronomers and
visualizers to showcase not only the coolest science imagery
and animations, but also the data and observations behind
them. Attendees will see the current state of the art as
well as learn how such visuals are created.

----------

The session will be a mixture of invited talks and sci viz
sequences. Last time, we did nine talks that explained how
nine sequences were made. In response to requests for more
viz, this time we will have fewer talks with the showing of
other sequences interspersed in between talks. So perhaps we
only have five or six talks, but get to show perhaps 15 or
more sequences during the session (a lot depends on sequence
lengths).

We will need to start a selection process for the sci viz
sequences. I have a list of folks from the AV09 meeting who
volunteered to help select the sequences. I'll be contacting
you next week to make sure you are willing to help.

In the meantime, everyone who would might like one of their
sequences to be shown during the session should be thinking
about what they can get ready. I would say that a sequence
should be no longer than a few minutes (3 min max?). We
should post the sequences where folks can see them and as a
community voice our opinons on which should be part of the
session. I was thinking that after Labor Day would be a good
time to start that selection process (we're kinda busy at
Hubble until early Sep).

Robert and I are in the process of inviting the speakers.
With fewer slots to fill this time and short deadlines from
AAS, we are not doing a full community selection for
speakers.  Instead, we are open to nominations from folks on
this list.  Please feel free to nominate yourself. Post your
suggestions to the astro-viz list or send us an email
(summers@... and hurt@...). Speakers must
meet the following criteria:

-- Must attend January AAS

-- Must present cool sci viz

-- Must speak well in front of hundreds of people

-- Must appeal to audience of astronomers

-- Must provide presentation and viz in advance

The last point may sound bureaucratic, but it was a key to
having a smooth running session last time. Since we are
on the first day of the meeting, AAS will want things loaded
ASAP.

Comments, questions? Please post or email.

Frank Summers (and Robert Hurt)

Hello metadata enthusiasts,

While it's been some time since we've sent out any announcements on
the Virtual Astronomy Multimedia Project and the Astronomy
Visualization Metadata standard, but there's been a lot of
developments going on behind the scenes. 2009 promises to see some
exciting developments!

Briefly, VAMP is about a standard for embedding rich contextual
information about astronomical imagery into the image files directly.
It forms a database schema that allows for a lot of innovative web and
software development, as it captures a lot of information about the
image: captions, sky coordinates, color mapping, etc. Visit the
project website for more info:

http://virtualastronomy.org/

A number of missions have been actively pursuing AVM tagging projects
and even applying for grants to support development of VAMP-related
projects. These include STScI/MAST, ADS, ESO/ESA, and Spitzer/IPAC.
Just as exciting is ongoing development within the planetarium
software community to build AVM support into a variety of fulldome
systems in development by Evans & Sutherland/Digistar, SCISS/Uniview,
and Sky-Skan/Digital Sky.

Here is a list of some updates for the Virtual Astronomy Multimedia
Project and the Astronomy Visualization Metadata standard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) AAS Meetup on Wednesday

2) Photoshop CS4 Metadata Panels

3) Updated CS3 Panel (bugfix)

4) AVM-Driven Website Development

5) AVM Programming Resources (EXIFTool, Python)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) AAS Meetup on Wednesday

Are you in Pasadena for the AAS? Would you be interested in an
informal meet-up to discuss the VAMP project? Send me an email and
indicate what times you would be available on Wednesday from Lunchtime
through evening. If there is interest I will announce a meetup time/
place by Tuesday evening. It can provide a great opportunity to learn
about image tagging techniques and the software support for VAMP/AVM
that is under development.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) Photoshop CS4 Metadata Panels

Adobe significantly changed the interface for accessing XMP embedded
metadata in its CS4 product line which, though potentially more
powerful, offered no backwards compatibility for previous metadata
panel design. Fortunately Amit Kapadia, working at ESA/ESO in Garching
Germany has been able to create a new set of CS4 panels using the
Adobe Flex programming environment. This now opens up

If you are using the CS4 products, you can download the AVM beta
panels here:

http://virtualastronomy.org/avm_metadata.php#6

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) Updated CS3 Panel (bugfix)

We have just discovered a format error in the existing CS3 panels that
embeds the Spatial.FITSheader tag in the incorrect format. Fortunately
the fix is simple and requires only deleting a single line of text in
the AVM-4-Coordinates.txt file. If you use this keyword, you can
update your existing panel by searching for this block of text and
deleting the indicated line. The files will be updated soon on the
VAMP website and in the next FITS Liberator release.

         edit_text(
             fbname: '$$$/FitsLiberator/Metadata/Keyword/
Spatial.FITSheader=Spatial.FITSheader',
             height: 100,
DELETE >>>  container_type: alt_struct,  <<< THIS LINE
             v_scroller: true,
             horizontal: align_fill,
             xmp_ns_prefix: 'avm',
             xmp_namespace: 'http://www.communicatingastronomy.org/avm/1.0/'
,
             xmp_path: 'Spatial.FITSheader'
         );


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) AVM-Driven Website Development

AVM provides a powerful database schema that can form the basis for
dynamically-generated websites. Using tagged images, a web developer
can extract the embedded information and use it to populate the
database of the content management system. Several projects are
already underway to do just this.

NASA's Herschel Science Center, as part of the ESA Herschel
collaboration, has an operation AVM-enabled website. The image
galleries draw the title and caption text from the embedded AVM
metadata, which is also available for browsing in the downloaded
imagery. The website extracts and displays the metadata using simple
PHP code and an XML parser. Check it out at:

http://www.herschel.caltech.edu/

The Spitzer Science Center will deploy an entirely new AVM-driven
website in the coming weeks. This website internally features full
reading/writing of AVM metadata, so that any updates made to the
website database will automatically be written back into the
associated imagery, keeping image downloads in synchronization with
the website data. The new site will offer full color mapping data for
each image in an innovative new way, made possible by the AVM schema.
Full WCS coordinate metadata has been recovered for over 90% of the
Spitzer imagery, facilitating its display in software like WorldWide
Telescope and Google Sky.

ESO is currently developing a new AVM-aware media archive to be
launched during third quarter of 2009. The actual tagging of images
with e.g. coordinate information will however only happen after the
new media archive has been deployed. The base components of the media
archive system will also be open sourced for the benefit of the
community (see e.g. http://code.google.com/p/python-xmp-toolkit/). The
media archive will furthermore be integrated on our other sites like
e.g. www.spacetelescope.org.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) AVM Programming Resources (EXIFTool, Python)

As a byproduct of ongoing website development, new programmer tools
for accessing AVM metadata that has been embedded using Adobe's XMP
format. Such tools should be considered in beta development phases.

EXIFTool: The SESO media group, developing the new Spitzer website,
have released a profile for the open source EXIFTool software suite
that allows direct access to the AVM metadata. You can learn more and
download the new profile at:

http://github.com/clr/astronomy_visualization_metadata_exiftool_profile/tree/mas\
ter

The ESO group is developing a python-based wrapper for the Exempi
library that is based on Adobe's XMP Toolkit, allowing easy scripting
access to AVM tags. More information is online at:

http://code.google.com/p/python-xmp-toolkit

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Look for more updates in the coming weeks as more projects begin VAMP
development and more development tools become available. Please feel
free to contact me if you need more information or would be interested
in participating in future development of the AVM standard.

Robert Hurt (chair)

VAMP standards team:

Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESO)
Ryan Wyatt (California Academy of Sciences)
Eli Bressart (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

http://virtualastronomy.org/


|  Dr. Robert L. Hurt   |  Spitzer Science Center/Public Affairs
|  Caltech MS 220-6     |  626-395-1825 (office)  626-568-0673 (fax)
|  Pasadena, CA 91125   |  http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu

We had a talk by the NVIDIA folks at Astro-Viz 09. One
technology they are pushing is CUDA, which can be used
in code to utilize the GPU instead of the CPU. Here are
some NVIDIA CUDA benchmarks for real world apps,
mostly video transcoding:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/18/2020205

Tom's Hardware review is quite positive if your application
accelerates the action you want to do. They say that Adobe
CS4 includes some CUDA acceleration, anyone have
experience with it?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros.html

Frank

Thanks to everybody who has registered already.  If you have already
registered for the conference, you should soon receive an email
confirming your registration and reminding you to submit your
abstracts and images.  I have extended the deadline so you can
register through the weekend, and even next Monday if you're a truly
spectacular procrastinator.

So, now through next Monday, 26 April, you can register for the
conference online:
     https://www.calacademy.org/register/astroviz/

Monday, 26 April, is also the deadline for abstracts!  If you have
registered but not submitted your abstract(s), please log in to add
your abstract(s) and your personal image as soon as possible.

When you register, you will be assigned an alphanumeric registration
code, which you can use to log in at a later date to add an abstract
(or two or three) or an image or change any of your data.  (N.B. that
the registration code was easy to miss on the original design of the
web page; we're changing that to make it easier.  If you can't find
your registration code, please email me and I'll forward it to you.)

As far as those abstracts and images go...

If you'd like to give a talk, then you will need to upload a Word
document (ugh) or PDF or, heck, even a LaTeX file for all I care --
really whatever format file you want (a PNG with text, for example,
would be accepted by the site if not appreciated by the workshop
organizer).  There's even a checkbox available for A/V requests
(including planetarium, stereoscopic theater, and so forth).  There's
plenty of time in the schedule for general presentations, but not much
space left for talks in the planetarium or 3D theater, so email me in
advance if you're interested in an exotic venue.

You'll also be asked (a la Image+Meaning and Astro-Viz '06) to supply
an image for your badge.  Your image should be 4-by-3 aspect ratio,
and it will be printed approximately 2-by-1.5 inches.  You decide the
DPI.  You should select an image that represents your personality,
your work, or even better, a challenge in visualization or
communication that you'd like to discuss.

Again, the cost of registration will be $100.00, payable by credit
card (sorry, no PayPal).  We plan to keep registration open through
12:01 a.m., Tuesday, 28 April.  So register on Monday at the latest!

Thanks again for your patience.  I look forward to seeing you very,
very, very soon.


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
+1-415-379-5183

Just a reminder about the pre-workshop concert in Walnut Creek.  The
California Symphony has requested that we reserve our seats today, so
you should register TODAY if you're interested in the concert.

As a reminder, the pre-workshop trip to Walnut Creek will give you a
chance to see Jose Francisco's "Astronomical Pictures at an
Exhibition" performance with the California Symphony on 5 May.  The
trip will include transportation, box dinner, and a ticket, all for
the low price of $90.00.

Just select "Y" on the registration page where it asks, "Do you wish
to take the optional $90 concert trip?"

Again, now through next Friday, 24 April, you can register for the
conference online:
      https://www.calacademy.org/register/astroviz/

You can register (and pay, of course) for the workshop, and you can
also submit paper titles and abstracts.  You will be assigned a
registration number, which you can use to log in at a later date to
add an abstract (or two or three) or an image or change any of your
data.

The registration from is self-explanatory:  name, institution, etc.,
plus your name as you'd like it to appear on your badge (Robert Hurt,
for example, might select "Berto" instead of the more formal
"Robert").  You'll be able to fill in an optional box for special
needs and dietary requirements, too.

You'll also be asked (a la Image+Meaning and Astro-Viz '06) to supply
an image for your badge.  Your image should be 4-by-3 aspect ratio,
and it will be printed approximately 2-by-1.5 inches.  You decide the
DPI.  You should select an image that represents your personality,
your work, or even better, a challenge in visualization or
communication that you'd like to discuss.

If you'd like to give a talk, then you will need to upload a Word
document (ugh) or PDF or, heck, even a LaTeX file for all I care --
really whatever format file you want (a PNG with text, for example,
would be accepted by the site if not appreciated by the workshop
organizer).  There's even a checkbox available for A/V requests
(including planetarium, stereoscopic theater, and so forth).  There's
plenty of time in the schedule for general presentations, but not much
space left for talks in the planetarium or 3D theater, so email me in
advance if you're interested in an exotic venue.

Again, the cost of registration will be $100.00, payable by credit
card (sorry, no PayPal).  We plan to keep registration open through
Friday, 24 April.

Thanks again for your patience.  I look forward to seeing folks in...
a...  few weeks.  Augh!


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
+1-415-379-5183

Allosphere demo at TED:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/15/2017209&art_pos=3

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joann_kuchera_morin_tours_the_allosphere.html

Am I being elitist in thinking that it doesn't look that impressive
yet? Seems way behind dome viz. Of course, it is 360 and
real-time.

Perhaps we should give them some cool astronomy data to
explore and really show off the capabilities.

Frank

Well, actually, it opened yesterday, as some observant folks noted.

Now through next Friday, 24 April, you can register for the conference
online:
       https://www.calacademy.org/register/astroviz/

You can also get to the registration form from a link in the upper
right hand corner of the main workshop page:
       http://www.calacademy.org/astroviz09/

A few things changed in the design since last week, so please forgive
the following amended recap...

You can register (and pay, of course) for the workshop, and you can
also submit paper titles and abstracts.  You will be assigned a
registration number, which you can use to log in at a later date to
add an abstract (or two or three) or an image or change any of your
data.

The registration from is self-explanatory:  name, institution, etc.,
plus your name as you'd like it to appear on your badge (Robert Hurt,
for example, might select "Berto" instead of the more formal
"Robert").  You'll be able to fill in an optional box for special
needs and dietary requirements, too.

You'll also be asked (a la Image+Meaning and Astro-Viz '06) to supply
an image for your badge.  Your image should be 4-by-3 aspect ratio,
and it will be printed approximately 2-by-1.5 inches.  You decide the
DPI.  You should select an image that represents your personality,
your work, or even better, a challenge in visualization or
communication that you'd like to discuss.

If you'd like to give a talk, then you will need to upload a Word
document (ugh) or PDF or, heck, even a LaTeX file for all I care --
really whatever format file you want (a PNG with text, for example,
would be accepted by the site if not appreciated by the workshop
organizer).  There's even a checkbox available for A/V requests
(including planetarium, stereoscopic theater, and so forth).  There's
plenty of time in the schedule for general presentations, but not much
space left for talks in the planetarium or 3D theater, so email me in
advance if you're interested in an exotic venue.

And finally, you'll be able to sign up for the pre-workshop trip to
Walnut Creek to see Jose Francisco's "Astronomical Pictures at an
Exhibition" on 5 May.  The trip will include transportation, box
dinner, and a ticket, all for the low price of $90.00.  In order to
give the California Symphony a reasonable count, they have asked that
you RSVP for the concert this week!  (Sorry.)

Again, the cost of registration will be $100.00, payable by credit
card (sorry, no PayPal).  We plan to keep registration open through
Friday, 24 April.

Thanks again for your patience.  I look forward to seeing folks in...
a...  few weeks.  Augh!


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
+1-415-379-5183

When the registration pages go online tomorrow, you'll be able to
register (and pay, of course) for the workshop, and you'll also be
able to submit paper titles and abstracts.  You'll also be asked (a la
Image+Meaning and Astro-Viz '06) to supply an image for your badge.

The registration from is self-explanatory:  name, institution, etc.,
plus your name as you'd like it to appear on your badge (Robert Hurt,
for example, might select "Bobby" instead of the more formal
"Robert").  You'll be able to fill in an optional box for special
needs and dietary requirements, too.

Your image should be 4-by-3 aspect ratio, and it will be printed
approximately 2-by-1.5 inches.  You decide the DPI.  If you can have
your image ready when you register, that'd be spiffy, since it'll
avoid our having to correlate names and images at a later date.  You
should select an image that represents your personality, your work, or
even better, a challenge in visualization or communication that you'd
like to discuss.

If you'd like to give a talk, then it would also be helpful to have
your title and abstract prepared when you register.  You will be able
to enter text, or if you prefer, you can upload a Word document (ugh)
or PDF or, heck, even a LaTeX file for all I care.  There's even a
checkbox available for A/V requests (including planetarium,
stereoscopic theater, and so forth).  There's plenty of time in the
schedule for general presentations, but not much space left for talks
in the planetarium or 3D theater, so email me in advance if you're
interested in an exotic venue.

And finally, you'll be able to sign up for the pre-workshop trip to
Walnut Creek to see Jose Francisco's "Astronomical Pictures at an
Exhibition" on 5 May.  The trip will include transportation, box
dinner, and a ticket.

For better or for worse, you'll need to do all these things at the
same time, unless our PHP programmers pull off some real magic
(possible, but...).  So I want you to be prepared!

Again, the cost of registration will be $100.00, payable by credit
card (sorry, no PayPal).  The pre-workshop trip is projected to cost
$80.00, based on what we hear back from the California Symphony.  We
plan to keep registration open through Friday, 24 April.

Thanks again for your patience.  I look forward to seeing folks next
month!


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
+1-415-379-5183

The folks at Stanyan Park agreed to hold rooms for another day, which
means that you can still contact them today about rooms for the
Astronomy Visualization Workshop at the California Academy of Sciences.

Contact them at 415-751-1000 for the reduced rates.  There are just
eight rooms left, by my count.

(Coming next:  a preview of registration, due to be online tomorrow.)


Ryan.

First off, a reminder that the Stanyan Park Hotel will hold our rooms
through TODAY, after which time we will not be able to guarantee their
availability! Call (415)751-1000 for reservations and a reduced rate.

On a slightly aggravating note, we have run into issues with the
registration page on the California Academy of Sciences site.  We hope
to have registration up and running by Wednesday, and I'm actually
optimistic that we'll reach that goal.  My apologies for the delay:
this is the first workshop or conference the Academy has held, so we
had to create the ticketing system for it *as well as* the online
interface.  We've climbed a bit of a learning curve.

Once registration opens, we're looking at $100.00 for the full three
days, which will include most meals.

As soon as we confirm with the California Symphony, it looks like the
"pre-workshop trip" to Walnut Creek on 5 May for Jose Francisco's
performance will be about $80.00, which will include the price of the
ticket, transportation from the Stanyan Park Hotel to the performance,
and a box lunch to eat along the way.  To find out more about the
concert, check out the California Symphony website:
     http://www.californiasymphony.org/events/programfour

Again, the web page for 2009 Astronomy Visualization Workshop is still
up:
      http://www.calacademy.org/astroviz09/

Also, beginning 22 April, the Academy will also be hosting the "From
Earth to the Universe" exhibit organized by our friends at the Chandra
X-ray Center:
     http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/

We'll be looking for volunteers to stand in front of their images and
chat with the twenty- and thirtysomethings who attend Thursday
evening's "NightLife."  (But beware, flirting may occur!)  Part of the
idea behind the evening program is to offer more informal interactions
with scientists.

Spaces in the planetarium and 3D theater Wednesday night are starting
to fill up, so if you're interested in either of those venues, please
contact me as soon as possible and include "astro-viz" in the subject.

A more complete schedule will appear on the website soon.

And the usual spiel...  Nearly 1.2 million people have visited the
Academy since we reopened in late September 2008, and more then
375,000 have already experienced our debut planetarium show, "Fragile
Planet." The Academy also boasts a stereoscopic theater that makes use
of Dolby's impressive 3D technology, and our "Science in Action"
exhibit features a two-by-two power wall.  For more information on the
Academy and our LEED platinum building, you can check out our website:
     http://www.calacademy.org/

And for more on NightLife, take a look at our own page, or track us on
Facebook:
     http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/
     http://tinyurl.com/nightlife-facebook

We hope you can join us in San Francisco next month!


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
415-379-5183

The web page for 2009 Astronomy Visualization Workshop is up on the
California Academy of Sciences site:
       http://www.calacademy.org/astroviz09/

For all out-of-towners who are interested in attending, please note
that the Stanyan Park Hotel will hold our rooms until April 6th--
that's this coming Monday! Call (415)751-1000 for reservations and a
reduced rate.

Alas, the site above does *not* include a link to register.  The
Academy will offer registration through its standard ticketing system,
but we have run into some issues getting that set up properly.  Our
hope is to have it up and running by the end of the week.  I apologize
for the delay.

And just to recap...

The California Academy of Sciences will host an Astronomy
Visualization Workshop, 6-8 May 2009.

A rough schedule for the three days:  Wednesday, 6 May, will be a full
day of talks with an evening reserved for special demonstrations in
the planetarium and 3D stereoscopic theater; Thursday, 7 May, will
offer up more talks culminating in a VIP lounge at the Academy's
weekly "NightLife" event (and you won't need to buy scalped tickets on
Craigslist); and Friday, 8 May, promises a shorter collection of talks
as well as a potential field trip or possible on-site movie preview.
We are reaching out to several Bay Area companies and institutions to
enrich the workshop with some astro-interested innovators.

As you may recall, we have timed the workshop with a concert of the
California Symphony on 3 and 5 May 2009, featuring list member Jose
Francisco Salgado's interpretation of "Astronomical Pictures at an
Exhibition," which has already shown at the IYA opening festivities in
Spain.  We are arranging for transportation to the event, which takes
place about an hour east of San Francisco.  To find out more about the
concert, check out the California Symphony website:
      http://www.californiasymphony.org/events/programfour

Also, beginning 22 April, the Academy will also be hosting the "From
Earth to the Universe" exhibit organized by our friends at the Chandra
X-ray Center:
      http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/

More than 1.1 million people have visited the Academy since we
reopened in late September 2008, and more then 250,000 have already
experienced our debut planetarium show, "Fragile Planet." The Academy
also boasts a stereoscopic theater that makes use of Dolby's
impressive 3D technology, and our "Science in Action" exhibit features
a two-by-two power wall.  For more information on the Academy and our
LEED platinum building, you can check out our website:
      http://www.calacademy.org/

And for more on NightLife, take a look at our own page, or track us on
Facebook:
      http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/
      http://tinyurl.com/nightlife-facebook

If you're dying to give a talk, or especially if you would like time
in the planetarium or 3D theater to show off some of your work, please
contact me as soon as possible and include "astro-viz" in the subject
to make my life a wee bit easier.

We hope you can join us in San Francisco in a little over a month!


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
415-379-5183

The rumors are true.  The California Academy of Sciences will host an
Astronomy Visualization Workshop, 6-8 May 2009.

My apologies for the belated announcement.  A website with
registration details will be available soon, but in the meantime, we
have made arrangements for a special rate at the Stanyan Park Hotel,
which is a short walk from the Academy through Golden Gate Park:
       http://www.stanyanpark.com/

A rough schedule for the three days:  Wednesday, 6 May, will be a full
day of talks with an evening reserved for special demonstrations in
the planetarium and 3D stereoscopic theater; Thursday, 7 May, will
offer up more talks culminating in a VIP lounge at the Academy's
weekly "NightLife" event (and you won't need to buy scalped tickets on
Craigslist); and Friday, 8 May, promises a shorter collection of talks
as well as a potential field trip.  We are reaching out to several Bay
Area companies and institutions to enrich the workshop with some astro-
interested innovators.

As you may recall, we have timed the workshop with a concert of the
California Symphony on 3 and 5 May 2009, featuring list member Jose
Francisco Salgado's interpretation of "Astronomical Pictures at an
Exhibition," which has already shown at the IYA opening festivities in
Spain.  We are arranging for transportation to the event, which takes
place about an hour east of San Francisco.  To find out more about the
concert, check out the California Symphony website:
       http://www.californiasymphony.org/events/programfour

Also, beginning 22 April, the Academy will also be hosting the "From
Earth to the Universe" exhibit organized by our friends at the Chandra
X-ray Center:
       http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/

Nearly a million people have visited the Academy since we reopened in
late September 2008, and more then 250,000 have already experienced
our debut planetarium show, "Fragile Planet."  The Academy also boasts
a stereoscopic theater that makes use of Dolby's impressive 3D
technology, and our "Science in Action" exhibit features a two-by-two
power wall.  For more information on the Academy and our LEED platinum
building, you can check out our website:
       http://www.calacademy.org/

And for more on NightLife, take a look at our own page, or track us on
Facebook:
       http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/
       http://tinyurl.com/nightlife-facebook

If you're dying to give a talk, or especially if you would like time
in the planetarium or 3D theater to show off some of your work, please
contact me as soon as possible and include "astro-viz" in the subject
to make my life a wee bit easier.

We hope you can join us in San Francisco in just a few short months!
I'll be sending an update to the list quite soon with registration
details and more information about the schedule.


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
415-379-5183

Hello Lisa, and others,

   thank you for asking, seems I forgot to announce our visualization
workshop here on this list, it's taking place pretty soon, in 4 weeks
  from now, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

	 http://www.cct.lsu.edu/vizworkshop09

While the topics are pretty open, we historically have some major
interests towards astrophysics, beside computational fluid dynamics.

We decided to issue make electronic proceedings, for which the paper
deadlines
have become more floating, which now will be March 4th for full
contributions.
So, contributions and attendees will still be highly welcome!

	 Werner


On Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:46:49 +0100, Lisa Frattare <frattare@...>
wrote:

> Hi All-
>
> I have heard rumors about some astronomically related visualization/
> imaging workshops and conferences scheduled for this year, but I am
> looking for concrete dates and venues. If you have anything coming up
> (hint, hint- San Francisco - Ryan?) please let us know so we can
> start planning to attend.
>
> Cheers, Lisa Frattare
> STScI



--
___________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Werner Benger <werner@...>               Visualization Research
Laboratory for Creative Arts and Technology (LCAT)
Center for Computation & Technology at Louisiana State University (CCT/LSU)
239 Johnston Hall, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Tel.: +1 225 578 4809                        Fax.: +1 225 578-5362

Hi All-

I have heard rumors about some astronomically related visualization/
imaging workshops and conferences scheduled for this year, but I am
looking for concrete dates and venues. If you have anything coming up
(hint, hint- San Francisco - Ryan?) please let us know so we can
start planning to attend.

Cheers, Lisa Frattare
STScI

Posted for those who might like to track these things...

As many of you know, the early 21st century is the dawning age of "new
media". From video on cell phones, to broadband moving pictures on
wireless laptops, to streaming audio over 3G networks, new media is
the penny press of its day.

But some new media enter the market and mind in location specifics
venues. That's Science On a Sphere, and this year NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center is about to make a big splash in this arena.

Science On a Sphere is a remarkable projection technology developed by
NOAA a few years ago. Designed initially to show planetary data on a
spherical projection screen—essentially an animated globe—the system
bumped around several sleepy venues and demonstrations without fully
catching fire. Then in 2006, however, a small team of experts at NASA
Goddard figured out how to develop a fully produced movie on the
Sphere, and a new kind of cinema was born.

Here's a link for more on the platform itself:

http://sos.noaa.gov/

NASA Goddard is set to release TWO NEW movies on the Sphere worldwide
this spring. The first is called FROZEN.

www.nasa.gov/frozen

It concerns the anatomy and changing nature of the global cryosphere.
The other project is called RETURN TO THE MOON

www.nasa.gov/lunarsphere

This project concerns NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, and
the agency's overall efforts for going back to the moon.


Want to follow our progress in near-real time? Join our new TWITTER
Feed. There you can follow the mostly serious, mostly informative,
always fun progress of the NASA GSFC production team as it moves
towards delivery and release of its two new movies.

Here's the link to sign up to our Twitter feed:

twitter.com/spherenasa

This link will take visitors to the page on Twitter where they can
check out our feed, that is, our regular Twitter updates ("tweets"),
and also decide if they want to specifically join and follow what the
feed. The instructions are self explanatory on the site. This is the
blurb I put out the SOS community. You could use it if you choose to
post the link in various places to tell something about our intentions.


Can't get enough about what we're doing with the Sphere at NASA
Goddard? Check out our Twitter Feed and catch regular "Tweets" about
the latest. You can follow our team's progress in near-real-time as we
send out miniscule updates. And don't worry: this won't be heavy news
either! Expect light-hearted, lightweight blurbs about matters mundane
and majestic , major and minor, miniscule and marvelous. We're
 pushing the frontiers back on a screen without an edge, and we've
decided to stream our experiences out onto the `net.

Here's our address:

http://twitter.com/SphereNASA

Twitter is an "as much or as little as you want" proposition. Don't
want the chatter? Turn the feed off. Want to keep an eye on what's
happening here? Tune us in.

But check it out...or ask a resident twenty-year old on your staff to
give it a try! We're excited to share our work with Sphere watchers,
and we hope you'll have fun tuning in.

We produced a number of products for the "Methane on Mars" release.

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3574

We've also released a big product that might be of use to educators
and museums.  Ever wonder where all the missions are located
that just observe the Sun and geospace?  Check out:

"NASA's Heliophysics Great Observatories Study the Sun and Geospace"
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3570

Enjoy,

Tom
Note that we do have RSS feeds (located in the left sidebar) to easily
keep up to date with our releases.

Viz folks,

Some folks asked for notice when I update my web page of
the largest Hubble images. As of today, there are 302 with
more than 5 megapixels.

    http://terpsichore.stsci.edu/~summers/viz/hst_pr_big_tiff/


fjs

As I previously noted on this list, we don't seem to be having any
kind of astro-viz meeting this year, and I'm interested in thinking
ahead to next year, to make sure we avoid a similar gap.  So I'd like
to host something in my new digs, 6-8 May 2009.

For those who might not know, I've flown the American Museum of
Natural History coop and settled on the Left Coast.  I'm working at
the California Academy of Sciences, which is about to open the world's
largest green building accessible to the public.  It's an exciting
project, and in case you're interested, you can check out our website:
       http://www.calacademy.org/

The new Academy will house a fully digital planetarium as well as a
stereoscopic theater and plenty of HD screens all over the exhibit
floor, and we're gearing up to produce our own programming for all
those venues.  We will have real-time capabilities as well, with a
flexibly-designed system that should allow for easily bringing content
into our many venues.

Part of the impetus for the choice of dates is a concert of the
California Symphony on 3 and 5 May 2009, featuring list member Jose
Francisco Salgado's interpretation of "Astronomical Pictures at an
Exhibition":
       http://www.californiasymphony.org/content/may.asp

Jose Francisco can give more details on his event, but in the
meantime, please mark your calendars for 6-8 May 2009.  I'll be
posting more information after I get a certain planetarium up and
running in September.  I hope many if not all of you can make it to
San Francisco next year!


Ryan Wyatt, Director
Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA  94118
415-379-5183

Astro-Viz Folks,

I'm happy to announce that my DVD course is now available
from the Teaching Company. In my course, I present 24 half-hour
lectures on the solar system, with emphasis on the new perspectives
we have gained in the last few decades (some of which led to
the reclassification of Pluto). The course is titled "New
Frontiers: Modern Perspectives on Our Solar System".

The course contains lots of cool astronomy images and
visualizations. I'd like to thank the folks here on this list who
may have worked on data from the many solar system missions
and especially those who make them publicly available. At
STScI, I like to say that we get paid to give away cool visuals
for others to use. In this case, I'm on the receiving end, and
my sincere thanks to all.

If you haven't heard of them, the Teaching Company is the leader
in college level courses for the home market, and are very selective
about their professors. The other astronomy courses are taught by
Alex Filippenko, Neil Tyson, and Sean Carroll.

Currently, my course is featured on the front page of the
Teaching Company catalog, and on the home page of their web
site:

http://www.teach12.com/

After it leaves the home page, my course can be found here:

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1823



Frank

Space Telescope Science Institute    410-338-4749
3700 San Martin Dr                   410-338-4579 (fax)
Baltimore, MD 21218                  summers@...
http://terpsichore.stsci.edu/~summers/

Hi, all.

I'm wondering if anyone has seen something created already like this,
and can point me in the right direction...

The task is to illustrate the Earth's magnetic field; how it is
generated from the molten material sloshing around as it rotates
around the core, then pulling back showing the lines of force
extending through the Earth's surface and atmosphere into space,
forming the magnetosphere.

The project is a video podcast, one of the series of "Space Weather
FX" we are producing for MIT's Haystack Observatory. The first episode
can be seen here:

  http://www.haystack.mit.edu/swfx/

Thanks!

>> Mark

  ____________________________________________________
  Mark C. Petersen, Loch Ness Productions
  http://www.lochnessproductions.com
  _____________________ GEODESIUM ____________________