Astronomers and their shady algorithms

The vast quantities of data which may be produced by modern radio telescopes have outstripped conventional visualisation techniques available to astronomers. While research in other areas of visualisation finds some application in astronomy, problems peculiar to the field require new techniques. This paper presents a brief overview of some of the problems of visualisation for astronomy and compares different shading algorithms. A more comprehensive overview may be found in Norris (1994) and Gooch (1995).