Accurate Visualization of Galaxy Velocity Fields from Three-Dimensional Integral Field Spectroscopy Data

Abstract

In recent years, integral field spectroscopy (IFS) has become a major methodology in observational astronomy. Visual analysis of galactic motions is expected to play a crucial role in discovering the physical properties of galaxies. This poster presents a novel method for visualizing galaxy-specific motions using an emerging visual programming environment, Advanced Framework for Learning Astrophysical Knowledge (aflak), for visual analysis of three-dimensional IFS data. We demonstrate that the line-of-sight velocity of each region of galaxies can be more accurately visualized by coupling two specific kinds of aflak macros for generating position-velocity diagrams and deriving velocity fields.