PICTURING SPACE
From his office on the outskirts of the leafy town of Garching – near Munich, Germany – Luís Calçada has spent the last 14 years opening windows onto the Universe. He’s built black holes and brought entire planetary systems into existence. And it’s all been done from in front of a computer screen.
That’s because Calçada is one of a number of scientists and visualisation experts scattered around the world whose job is to create astronomical imagery for space agencies and observatories. Whether they process the observations from space or ground-based telescopes themselves to create beautiful astro images, or use them as inspiration to create artists’ impressions, the end results are spectacular.
Though their pictures may enter the world attached to a press release, they’ve spread far and wide through public life. They’ve
