This method is particularly effective when moving the cursor behind thin opaque regions, as the placement is directly tied to the data, which is the ultimate goal. For placement relative to larger regions, other methods must be used to give depth cues to the user. By upgrading to a stereo display, we expect to provide the necessary depth cues to enable the cursor to be placed in three-dimensional space. To my knowledge, this is the first time an integrated input device such as the Spaceball has been used to control a slicer tool for analyzing astronomical data sets. Understanding Data Most radio astronomy is not solely a matter of collecting, viewing and interpreting data.
Many theoretical models exist which attempt to explain observed phenomena.
Once an astronomer has identified structure in the data and proceeded to perform quantitative analysis, the data need to be compared with existing models. Various astronomical data analysis packages provide tools to do this. New model-fitting algorithms need to be developed to take full advantage of emerging visualization technologies. The feedback we have obtained from astronomers indicates that they can extract more science from their data using the visualization tools we have developed than was previously possible. Objects that would appear as a number of faint, disjoint fuzzy patches in individual images appear as a clearly defined object in three dimensions.