Are the Colors in Webb Telescope Images 'Fake'? [ANSWER: Yes, and it's not just the colors being manipulated]

gizmodo ^ | Isaac Schultz

[Flick Lives]

They assign various infrared wavelengths to colors on the visible spectrum, the familiar reds, blues, yellows, etc.

—

The usual hyperbolic “news” article. The telescope gathers light in frequencies humans cannot see, so obviously the “images”, and even that’s an antiquated term as everything is gathered digitally, are manipulated to render a visible color value.

[TexasFreeper2009]

yep, all deep space images are colored.

[Bob434]

I don’t mind enhancements to stuff we can’t see with the eye. The telescopes have given us insight into some pretty cool stuff, enhanced or not.

[sauropod]

As much as it cost, TPTB have to keep the public’s interest up.

[Islander7]

Well, it’s what you have to do to see the invisible.

[GingisK]

Think of it as “down converting”.

[BitWielder1]

Unless you have infrared vision, all infrared images have to be processed before you can see them.
Same goes for radio, radar, ultraviolet, X-ray, ultrasound etc.

[marktwain]

Unless you have infrared vision, all infrared images have to be processed before you can see them. Same goes for radio, radar, ultraviolet, X-ray, ultrasound etc.

Exactly.

[AdmSmith]

Is this the coolest picture so far?

The Carina Nebula, an enormous cloud of dust and gas 7,600 light years away, as well as the Southern Ring Nebula, which surrounds a dying star 2,000 light years away.

Carina Nebula is famous for its towering pillars that include “Mystic Mountain,” a three-light-year-tall cosmic pinnacle captured in an iconic image by Hubble.

https://phys.org/news/2022-07-nasa-reveals-webb-telescope-cosmic.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carina_Nebula

[Leaning Right]

Well, that shook my trust in NASA a bit. What’s next? Maybe they’ll announce that this NASA picture of the moon was faked.

[al baby]

[George from New England]

This freeper has been saying this for years now. 95% artist enhancement, 5% true data.

[married21]

I am always struck by how the macrocosm and the microcosm can seem similar. These kind of nebula and star pictures remind me of the appearance of the amniotic sac around a preborn child.

[Nifster]

The images are not invisible. Your eye cannot detect energy in the infrared…. The instruments on the other hand are designed for that purpose

[Nifster]

Indeed

[Nifster]

Wouldn’t have cost that much had they not kept changing the specs

[Ezekiel]

The whole point of any telescope is to see beyond.

Some folks are just never satisfied. No vision!

“James” = Ya’akov. It’s a ginormous weBB of intel.

2B or not 2B, that is the question.

+

2B
PLUS SIGN

[Navy Patriot]

This is one of the areas where there is no malicious intent in the enhancement of photographs.

Assignment of various infrared wavelengths to colors on the visible spectrum allows humans to "see" what the optical senors detect and can analyze for a better understanding of the cosmos and cosmic events.

While computers and sensors use that data to test the Theories that Scientists and Researchers develop, everyone can "see" the data that is invisible.

[ealgeone]