3D Modelling and Visualisation of Observed Galaxies

Observational astronomers survey the sky in great detail to gain a better understanding of many types of astronomical phenomena. In particular, the formation and evolution of galaxies, including our own, is a wide field of research in astronomy. Three dimensional (spatial) scientific visualisation is typically limited to simulated galaxies, due to the inherently two dimensional spatial resolution of Earth-based observations. We present a novel approach to reconstruct and visualise 3D representations of galaxies based on observational data, using the scientific visualisation software Splotch to generate high quality visual representations that provide a new perspective of galaxies nearby the Milky Way.