Making the Invisible Visible: A Study of Exoplanet Visualisation

Sammanfattning

Exoplanets are planets found around other stars in the Universe. Although astronomical studies have found and confirmed the existence of exoplanets, they are too far away to be photographed directly, so there are dedicated visualisation scientists who use the data collected on them to create hypothetical visualisation. This thesis project aims to conduct the duality of science and art that exists in the production of exoplanet visualisation, to answer the questions of how the scientific gaze evolved with respect to artistic representations and how illustrations affect the dissemination of science in the public. This shall be achieved by analysing images from NASA Eyes on Exoplanets and OpenSpace through the lens of a Theoretical Framework postulated by Luc Pauwels that allows for understanding the issues and variations in production, mediums, and contexts of distribution and the purposes achieved by exoplanet visualisations. The reflection is also guided by the influence of the three epistemic values (Truth-to-Nature, Mechanical Objectivity, and Trained Judgement) posited by Daston and Gallison.