Cosmos and Canvas: Using Data Visualization to Explore and Communicate Your Science

Data visualizations that resonate with human perception strongly enhance discovery-based science.  Examples include perception-based colour mappings through to bold colour images from telescopes that act as extraordinary ambassadors for astronomers. But are these astronomy images snapshots documenting physical reality or are they artistically digitized space-scapes? To answer this, the lecture illustrates how original black and white astronomy data are converted into the colour images gracing magazines and websites.