First, some artwork done for they ADS (Astrophysics Data System)...
The idea for the manga-inspired drawing above came from articles I read about a "Green Comet", photographed by Chi Sheng Lin at the Lulin Observatory in July of 2007, and identified as a comet by Quanzhi Ye from Lin's photograph. The non-periodic comet was closest to the Earth on February 24th of 2009. To quote Wikibedia which quoted NASA: "According to NASA, Comet Lulin's green color comes from a combination of gases that make up its local atmosphere, primarily diatomic carbon, which appears as a green glow when illuminated by sunlight in the vacuum of space."
I thought of how terrifying it would be if we Earthlings had no way to know we wouldn't be wiped out if a (way too) Near-Earth Object was to pass across the sky. The ADS would certainly be busier than usual!
In addition:
I'm part of the SIMBAD USA Team. SIMBAD is a database originated and maintained by the CDS in Strasbourg, France.
SIMBAD is now available on the Web to anyone interested in astronomy --
no ID/password combination is required.
I help folks who have SIMBAD-related problems or who would like information.
SIMBAD USA is funded by NASA. We now have a SIMBAD mirror site here at the
Center for Astrophysics. Click here to query the CFA mirrorsite:
SIMBAD USA mirror
Want to travel? Visit the CDS in Strasbourg !
I work for the SAO Summer Intern Program too. We bring a great group of undergraduates to SAO each summer. Are you (or do you know) an undergraduate who might want to spend a summer working for an astrophysicist? For information about the program:
The Astrophysics Data System is free and available on the Web without a password. An on-line library for the astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and geophysics communities, The ADS is is a open 24 hours a day. It is a NASA-funded project whose main resource is an Abstract Service, divided into three sections:
Each database can be searched by author, object name (astronomy only), title, or abstract text words. The abstract service includes links to scanned images of thousands of journal articles. The ADS carries articles appearing in all of the major astronomical journals (back to their first volumes).
The ADS cross-references data for SIMBAD objects. That is, if a celestial object is mentioned in an abstract, and if SIMBAD has data for that object, an "S" link appears next to the abstract in the ADS. Clicking the "S" link accesses the SIMBAD data.
The ADS contains an extensive references and citations database.
The major astronomy and astrophysics journals are now on line. Scanned articles are available as .tif or .gif files). We are working on making conference proceedings available, and we provide many PhD theses and some books. We are adding historical literature (from microfilm libraries) as it becomes available and is catalogued.
Outside of work I am a visual artist and a dancer.
The homage to Lichtenstein at the top of this page is painted in acryic, on paper. I designed it for use as a light-hearted poster to attract passersby at conferences. I wanted to create a graphic which would let people know what the ADS is at a glance: something which would stand out among the science-oriented graphics of other presentations.
I work in various graphic media: ink and pencil, conté crayon, watercolor and acrylics. The first three of the images shown here are monoprints (made using watercolor and ink), the third is a watercolor.
I created the image below to be the background illustration for the cover of a series of books about x-ray astrophysics. A different design (also mine, and also using overlays) was used for that set. This image, now called "Celestial Embrace", is included in an article by Al Nath which appeared in the October issue of the French journal, "Orion"
