My buddy said all deep space photos are just colorized data and it got me thinking

He was looking at my shot of the Orion Nebula and said, 'Cool, but it's not really what it looks like, right? It's just a bunch of numbers.' I argued that the colors represent real elements, like hydrogen and oxygen, so it's a real scientific picture. But he thinks it's more like an artist's painting. I spent about 20 hours on that stack from my backyard in Tucson. So, is a processed astro photo a true image or more of an interpretation? Where do you draw the line?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_fox1mo ago

Your brain also just colorizes raw data from your eyes.

rosek731mo ago

My buddy swore he saw a blue car run the light. Dash cam footage was black and white. His brain just filled in the color.