When I was younger, I used to read about space. I was interested in learning about what could possibly be around us, beyond the gravitational pull of our planet. I used to watch those astronomy and related science programs on PBS, as well. On trips to Florida, I would even catch Jack Horkheimer‘s Star Hustler (which is apparrently now called Star Gazer) late at night.
Something has changed since then; photographs of celestial objects have become much prettier and more colorful. Is this a result of better telescopes bringing out the natural color of these objects? Nope. If we were to “see” these objects with our unaided eyes or through a telescope, they would not be so colorful.
The apparent beauty of the NASA photographs is due to Photoshop. The process is described here. Most of what is shown in pictures is light with wavelengths beyond the range of human visibility. Someone then converts the wide range of wavelengths into our range of red to “blue” (or sort of purple-ish) to appeal to our senses.
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