The website http://spaceimages.northwestern.edu was created by Northwestern University Information Technology as a companion to the exhibit "Imaging and Imagining Space: A Collaboration Between Art and Science" by Pamela Bannos and Farhad Zadeh, which was shown at the Block Museum of Art on Northwestern Campus in early 2001. The images presented in this website include all the astronomical images shown in the exhibition, as well as a number of additional astronomical images with links to more information.

In viewing astronomical images, scientists are accustomed to manipulating contrast and brightness to highlight the desired features. The wide range of structures and intensities in the complex astronomical sources shown cannot be represented in a single image and thus are shown using the Image Viewer Tool.