this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
194 points (97.5% liked)

Space

8671 readers
236 users here now

Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.


Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Picture of the Day

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula


Related Communities

๐Ÿ”ญ Science

๐Ÿš€ Engineering

๐ŸŒŒ Art and Photography


Other Cool Links

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's a new color every time

[โ€“] Lightfire228@pawb.social 5 points 2 months ago

it's a false color image

it's too tiny to take a picture of using a traditional telescope, so instead, they use multiple telescopes around the Earth, and piecemeal that data together. Which means they have to reconstruct the missing details (it's not made up, it's more like playing "connect the dots" with tons of math)

the final image is a composite of 3 different grayscale images, taken at different wavelengths of light.

The resulting black and white images are given different colors, then blended together (which is pretty similar to how cameras take images, they just map the grayscale images to colors we can see with our eyes)