Jan. 16, 2008 -- The universe can now be felt, as well as seen, in wavelengths of light which are invisible to the human eye.
The National Federation of the Blind and NASA have unveiled the new book "Touch the Invisible Sky," by Noreen Grice, which blends written text, Braille, astronomical images and embossed textures to recreate stars, galaxies and other cosmic objects as observed through some of the world's most advanced telescopes.
Unlike her four other astronomy books -- on the universe, the sun, moon phases and Hubble Space Telescope images -- her new book takes on an aspect of the universe that can't be actually seen directly by anyone.
"It totally levels the playing field," Grice told Discovery News. "Most of the light in the universe is not visible to our eyes."
So it makes no difference whether you represent celestial scenes made by X-rays, infrared or ultraviolet light as a false-color photograph or tactilely. Both are truthful and valid representations of astronomical data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes.
Grice's new book chooses both visual and tactile representations for its 28 images so that both sighted and blind readers can learn from the same book.
The tactile images use specially chosen textures and keys to help blind readers to interpret the images. Every image is also vetted by students at the Colorado School for the Blind to make sure that they actually work.
Grice developed the idea of making astronomy books for the blind 24 years ago while working as an intern in the planetarium at the Boston Museum of Science. There she was brought face to face with the inadequacies of astronomy education when she asked a group of blind visitors how they liked the planetarium show.
"There was this uncomfortable pause and they said 'It stunk,' and walked away," Grice said. "I had never really thought of astronomy as being accessible before because I had never known anyone who was blind."
The key to the success of Grice's books is that she collaborates with both astronomers and blind students before publishing. That's a degree of care that hasn't always been achieved by some other publications for the blind, said Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of the Blind.
Riccobono also pointed out that it would be a mistake to think the book is only for the blind.
"Frankly, there are many kids who aren't blind who are not primarily visual learners," Riccobono told Discovery News. "How do we know that sighted students won't get a deeper understanding from touching the pictures?"
Related Links:
Larry O'Hanlon's blog: Earth Impacts
The National Federation of the Blind
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