Visualization of Astrometric and Astrophysical Data

This dissertation bases on scientific visualization and computer graphics and develops methods and techniques designed to help analyze and understand astrophysical systems and processes. In the first part, we put our focus on vector field topology and the finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE), typically concerned with the non-inertial dynamics of time-dependent flows, and extend it to enable the study of force-induced inertial systems. We then introduce a framework for their visual analysis, and provide a quantitative approach to the extraction of Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS), manifolds that separate regions with distinct dynamics. In the second part, we shift our attention to the large-scale interactive visualization of large astrometric datasets. Here we develop a technique to efficiently navigate and explore catalogs with billions of objects, introduce a method to effectively use floating-point arithmetic in the representation of scenes with high dynamic range of distances, and present an integrated visualization of relativistic effects.