Unveiling the Infrared Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope

The universe is filled with beauty beyond even our wildest imaginations. Sophisticated observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescopes help us peer into that sublime reality, and it is to the great fortune of humanity that these instruments of science produce data that captures the essence of the natural beauty of the cosmos.

However, without a careful eye toward revealing that beauty, the data would remain black and white snapshots for scientific analysis rather than admiration. Astronomical image processors blend the artistic visual principles of composition, color and tonality with the scientific knowledge of how these observatories operate and the objects they study to compose images that capture the imagination and inspire the viewer to learn more about our universe.

In this talk, Senior Science Visuals Developer Joseph DePasquale will focus on exciting new results from the James Webb Space Telescope, providing some background on the observatory itself as well as the art and science of the image processing that reveals the inherent beauty of the infrared universe.