Touch The Sun Science Exploration: Galileo Screen

The mobile version of the Galileo Drawings App is called simply Touch The Sun. Touchscreen drawing possibilities are what first sparked my interest in creating a drawing-driven interaction for the Solar Dynamics Observatory images. Later I came across the famous hand-drawing images by Galileo Galilei and his 1613 hand-drawings of sunspots. Rice University had created stunning animations based on Galileo’s charcoal drawings. Once I saw them it was clear to me what the interaction on the mobile tablet should be.

As in the desktop version, Users are prompted to make guided observations: using their fingers on the touchscreen to draw the features they see. This calls their attention to the scientifically salient intricacies in the images, but also links them to the early history of scientific thought.