A new treatment of images collected by Voyager 2 in the late 1980s using data from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the actual colors of the solar system's distant ice giants, Neptune and Uranus.
I submit that the value of communicating spectroscopic information far outweighs the marginal negative impact of false coloration. Though, perhaps it should be normative to display nebulae in the visible spectrum side-by-side with the false color images. Problem there is that many nebulae do not give off appreciable visible light.
I heard an interview with an astronomer, who was asked if pictures from Hubble were “real”. He began by pointing out that you eye is not 2.4 meters across, so expecting it’s photos to be “real” is starting from a flawed premise.
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I submit that the value of communicating spectroscopic information far outweighs the marginal negative impact of false coloration. Though, perhaps it should be normative to display nebulae in the visible spectrum side-by-side with the false color images. Problem there is that many nebulae do not give off appreciable visible light.
I heard an interview with an astronomer, who was asked if pictures from Hubble were “real”. He began by pointing out that you eye is not 2.4 meters across, so expecting it’s photos to be “real” is starting from a flawed premise.