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Space art by professional astronomer Dr. Sarah (Biddle) Leslie!

05/13/2026

Revealing my largest space-artwork yet: Tarantula's heart! Which will be on display at the 's spring art show from tomorrow.

Inspired by the JWST NIRCam mosaic of the Tarantula nebula.

11/01/2025

Digital art: New frontiers.

This art was inspired by one of the first images released by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

The Rubin Observatory will capture images of the entire sky every few days using the 3200 megapixel LSST camera (!) -- allowing astronomers to identify and study targets that move or change.

The inspiration image was created May in 2025 and combines 678 separate images - this allows us to see the faintest details (you can download the full res image - 24GB). The image shows the Trifid nebula (top right, blue) and the Lagoon nebula (central, pink) and you can read more about them here: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look/trifid-lagoon

Dr. Vera Rubin changed how we see the world. Her meticulous observational work showed that galaxies were rotating faster than we could explain. Her work convinced scientists that dark matter was real and that there was much more of it than regular matter.

The Harvard Plate Stacks hosted an event in June to mark the release of a U.S. quarter honoring Dr. Vera Rubin. There I heard from Vera's colleagues and granddaughter about how not only was Vera an amazing scientist and advocate for women astronomers, but she was also warm, down-to-earth, determined, loving, curious, and supportive person.

I look forwards to seeing what the Vera C. Rubin observatory will help reveal about the universe.

09/18/2025

Throwback Thursday. I started this Instagram account in November 2019, but I've been painting space since 2017. When I couldn't afford lots of space-themed clothing (except for this constellation dress from ), I decided to paint some myself. Background photo of me in 2017 visiting CERN in Switzerland.

I painted on T-shirts with fabric paint! Most of my art was given to friends, family, and colleagues.

06/05/2025

Today my colleague Christian ( ) successfully defended his PhD thesis, "Galaxy Clusters in the Decameter Sky"! In it, he mapped the sky at a largely unexplored range of radio frequencies—10–30 MHz—using the LOFAR telescope. Studying space at such low frequencies is incredibly challenging because the Earth's ionosphere distorts the incoming radio waves. Christian helped develop a new calibration technique that enables higher sensitivity and resolution imaging than ever before at these wavelengths.

I had the honour of designing Christian’s thesis cover, which features real decameter radio data in the background and four active galactic nuclei on the back cover (image 2). I also created an original digital artwork to represent the Perseus cluster on the front cover (images 1 & 3).

Christian’s research focused on the Perseus galaxy cluster—a massive system over 240 million light-years away—at 30–50 MHz using LOFAR’s low-frequency capabilities. His team confirmed the presence of two giant structures: a known radio "mini-halo" around the central galaxy, and a newly revealed, much larger "giant radio halo" extending over a million light-years. These halos are thought to arise from turbulence caused by ancient cosmic mergers, which re-energize particles and make them glow in radio light—something I tried to capture in my artwork.

They also detected faint, aged radio emissions from "ghost cavities," relics of past outbursts from the cluster’s central black hole. These findings offer new insight into how black holes and galaxy collisions shape the structures of the universe.

Congratulations, Dr. Groeneveld 👏🎓🌌

02/27/2025

My mini painting of the Pillars of Creation was inspired by the JWST NIRCam image. This region of active star formation lies ~6,500 lyr away in the Eagle Nebula. Glowing red lines near the edges of some pillars reveal where stars are ejecting material as they form.

The pillars of creation were first made famous when imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 (and again in 2014) in visible light - which I have previously painted (see image 3). The near-infrared view from JWST helps us peer through more of the dust - revealing many more stars that are forming within.

12/28/2024

Some Christmas gifts I made - paintings of Jupiter (top left) and spiral galaxy M61 (bottom left) on canvas and an Orion Nebula (top) and moon (bottom) on heart-shaped clay dishes.

10/02/2024

Yesterday I started a new job at the Center for Astronomy | Harvard & Smithsonian, so I don't have as much time for this year. For Day 2: Moon - I'm posting an acrylic painting I made for in 2020.

09/29/2024

Mixed media Witch Head Nebula.

The Witch Head Nebula, also known as IC 2118, is a reflection nebula located about 900 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. Its nickname comes from its uncanny resemblance to the profile of a witch's head, complete with a hooked nose and pointed chin. This eerie-looking nebula is illuminated by the bright blue star Rigel, located in the nearby constellation Orion. The blue color of the nebula is due to interstellar dust reflecting Rigel's light, which is more efficiently scattered by blue wavelengths.

I used hot glue and cotton wool to create a 3D effect - adding texture and depth to the artwork. The cotton wool gives the piece a soft look, similar to the nebula's cloud-like appearance, while the hot glue creates and highlights sharp details, enhancing the nebula's "witch-like" profile.

08/20/2024

I really enjoy watching videos of acrylic pours and it was very fun to incorporate the technique for this series:

1. Impressions of a gas giant
2. Impressions of an exo-moon
3. Impressions of Mercury
4. Impressions of Mars.

# 2. and 4. also feature some gold leaf which adds depth and visual interest.

08/14/2024

Multiwavelength view of NGC 2207 and IC 2163.
The larger and more massive galaxy in this image is NGC 2207, while the smaller one is IC 2163.

The strong tidal forces exerted by NGC 2207 have significantly distorted the shape of IC 2163, flinging stars and gas into long streamers that extend over a hundred thousand light-years. This interacting pair is located approximately 100 million light-years from Earth.

In this painting, different colors represent data collected from various instruments, each tracing distinct parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Blue represents data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), highlighting cold molecular gas. This dataset (Kaufman+16) allowed astronomers to trace the motion of the gas, revealing where the encounter has compressed gas and triggered new star formation!

Red corresponds to optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope, showing trails of stars and gas that outline spiral arms stretched by the tidal forces between the galaxies.

Cream represents new data from the JWST's MIRI instrument (mid-infrared), which traces thermal dust emission and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features.

Calculations suggest IC 2163 is currently moving past NGC 2207, having made its closest approach ~ 40 million years ago. However, IC 2163 lacks the energy to escape NGC 2207's gravitational pull. Eventually, in billions of years, they will merge into a single massive galaxy.

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