For SUNY Oswego physics and astronomy faculty member and Shineman planetarium director Natalia Lewandowska, an editorial appointment to NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day website is an opportunity to come full circle.

“I started reading Astronomy Picture of the Day when I was still in high school in the 1990s,” Lewandowska recalled. “It was so cool. I love it because it helped me understand science and astronomy back then, and it has been an influence on my life.”

Thus the appointment earlier this year as the first assistant editor of the project filled Lewandowska with great excitement and an opportunity to contribute toward the education and sense of wonder for the site’s large readership.

Last year, during an American Astronomical Society conference, a colleague offered to connect Lewandowska with Robert J. Nemiroff, who co-created the site in 1995. “He said that I could write a guest post of a picture of my choosing,” Lewandowska said.

Beyond selecting an image, the task is challenging because contributors have a tight word count to explain a photo and/or phenomenon for an audience ranging from the world’s top astrophysicists to everyday enthusiasts with less of a scientific background, with appropriate links for more information.

The resulting first post of “A Message from the Gravitational Universe,” using an image from the NANOGrav Physics Frontier Center (of which Lewandowska is a full member) of gravitational waves, ran on June 29, 2023. Lewandowska earned additional opportunities for contributing, most recently “The Lion Nebula” on June 10 of this year.

Based on the success of her contributions, “Robert suggested that I could become an assistant editor, not just a guest editor,” Lewandowska said.

The arrangement became an institutional collaboration, with Lewandowska able to contribute up to two posts per month. Lewandowska's work is supported by a $10,000 sub-award from Michigan Technological University, funded by NASA.

It also means furthering her exploration and knowledge base about the cosmos. 

“I love learning about things I don’t yet know about,” Lewandowska said. “The nerdy part of me tells me that if I’m not learning something every day, I won’t be happy.”

And helping others learn more about the universe makes her even happier.

“It’s great to be part of a project that is about providing access to everybody,” Lewandowska said. “My belief as a scientist is that we should always be trying to make knowledge of the universe as accessible as possible.”