NASA Releases Dazzling Images from New Space Telescope

Cal Tech Space Infrared Telescope Facility ^ | December 18, 2003

[RecklessConservative]

These are cool pics, but isnt it true that the telescope delivers these images in black and white and then someone else puts in the colors to make them look nice?

[D-fendr]

I believe this is infrared photos - i.e. invisible to our eyes; so, "color" is not applicable, none would 'seen', though colors could be used to distinguish varying lengths of the electromagnetic waves.

[Looking for Diogenes]

isnt it true that the telescope delivers these images in black and white and then someone else puts in the colors to make them look nice?

Yes, but....

A few to things to remember. This telescope takes pictures in a part of the light sprectrum which is invisible to the human eye. So any coloration, even black and white, is a distortion of reality.

Colors reare different parts of the visible light spectrum. What you see here are different parts of the infrared, invisible spectrum. If we could see in that band we'd see more colors. So it is appropriate to use colors we know inorder to depcit that range of spectra.

Finally, all cameras can only record monochromatic images. they just happen to record three of them. Color images are created by filtering light into its components and recording each third of the sprectrum in a black and white image. Subsequently those three layers are used to either make a print or with substution a slide.

So the answer is yes, the colors are artificial, but then so is all photography.

[ThePythonicCow]

isnt it true that the telescope delivers these images in black and white and then someone else puts in the colors to make them look nice?

I doubt it. An infrared telescope is presumably looking at infrared frequencies of light outside the spectrum that humans can see. From other comments above, clearly this one is looking at several frequencies or a range of frequencies, at several "colors" that we can't see. Then these various invisible (to us) frequencies are translated to colors we can see.

So, yes, false colors. But if the real colors were shown, the pictures would look black to our human eyes.

[FastCoyote]

"These are cool pics, but isnt it true that the telescope delivers these images in black and white and then someone else puts in the colors to make them look nice?"

You are about fifty percent correct,you can't see infrared so technically it is all in black and white. But the telesope sees a range of frequencies, so normally they color code on the basis of a mapped spectrum. There's artistic license in the sense that you can pick which color goes with which frequency.

[Lazamataz]

"So the answer is yes, the colors are artificial, but then so is all photography."

....and then the Master rapped Student sharply on the head, and the Student was Enlightened.

-- Lazamataz, Zen Rivers Sparkling In Space

[Prime Choice]

"My God...it's full of stars."

(If ever someone doubts the existence of the Creator, let them try to explain it when viewing these fine examples of His handiwork.)

[BulletBobCo]

bump

[apastron]

These are cool pics, but isnt it true that the telescope delivers these images in black and white and then someone else puts in the colors to make them look nice?

The computers produce false-color images based on the wavelengths of light hitting the sensors. The phrase "...designed to paint a more comprehensive picture of the cosmos using different wavelengths of light" from the article is appropriate.

But then, no astro-photo really shows what an object would look like to the human eye anyway - even those taken on regular film. The photos are basically time-lapse. The "shutter" remains open for a certain amount of time (sometimes hours), allowing the image to burn onto the film. Our retinas don't work like that, and film is much more color-sensitive.

Having said all that, the 3-D quality of the images above is really striking!!

[onyx]

You're a wealth of information. Thanks. I like the photos. Beautiful and rather enticing... looks inviting, but terribly lonely out there.

[justrepublican]

-- Data from Spitzer of the young star HH 46-IR, and from a distant galaxy 3.25 billion light-years away, show the presence of water and small organic molecules not only in the here and now, but, for the first time, far back in time when life on Earth first emerged.

I hereby claim all carbonated beverages on HH46-IR.

[Lokibob]

bump for tomorrow.

[Tamzee]

I'm with you!

Spectacular images, yes..... awesome and beautiful. I'd rather hang out on Earth with the other humans, though, thanks :-)

[JasonC]

And the reason is works is, so are our eyes. We only have detectors for a few different colors, in the form of a few different types of light sensitive cells in the eye (rods, cones, etc). Our brain cells do the same composition-addition-contrast trick with our biological cell input...

[Virginia-American]

*ping*

[Yossarian]

I'm posting this to clear up any confusion out there.

This is Messier 81:

This is Messier #11:

Got that straight? Good.

[Looking for Diogenes]

Exactly.

[trebb]

My God...it's full of stars

My thoughts too - isn't it awesome to realize how big His reach is?

[mitchbert]

LOL. First good laugh of the day, eh. Thanks!