Touch the Invisible Sky A multi-wavelength Braille book featuring NASA images Simon Steel Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Noreen Grice “You Can Do Astronomy” LLC Doris Daou NASA Headquarters

Multi-wavelength astronomy - the study of the universe beyond visible light, has revolutionized our understanding and impression of the cosmos. Human Hearing 20 Hz- 20 kHz (9-10 Octaves) Human Vision nm (<1 octave) EM Spectrum (peV to MeV) 50 octaves R O Y G B I V

Telescopes are an expansion/extension of our senses

To make the invisible visible

1. You are required to explain images in clear terms to an audience That has no context or familiarity.

2. You are forced to focus on what’s important.

The tactile graphics were designed by Noreen Grice using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Prototype versions of each image were printed with a Swell Form machine and sent to Colorado for testing and evaluation.

COLORADO SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND Blind and visually impaired students and a teacher from the Colorado School for the Blind reviewed the tactile graphics and text. They provided suggestions and received updated graphics to review. The tactile graphics were not completed until each picture received their approval.

Prototyping tactile images can take months or more.

Teacher Ben Wentworth observes a student’s reaction to a prototype tactile astronomy image.

Comparing the Whirlpool Galaxy in different wavelengths. Below is the tactile Counterpart to the infrared view.

Coming soon - Touch the Invisible Sky!

To order a copy of Touch the Invisible Sky See our poster!