by Ann » Thu Nov 11, 2021 6:31 am
Let's compare a few pictures of NGC 1333:
Notice any differences between today's APOD (top left) and the other three images? Well, the blue reflection nebula of today's APOD looks more "transparent" than it does in the other images.
But there is another difference as well: The color of the reflection nebula. In today's APOD the hue of this nebula is washed-out and blandly grayish, whereas all the other three images show it in vibrant shades of blue. And the fact that this latest addition of the "NGC 1333 gallery" is so relatively lacking in blue color may well be a sign of the times, because brilliantly blue hues are ever less fashionable.
Not so long ago, light blue
■ was a popular color. Nowadays, this shade of blue is considered "tacky". If you want to be smart, you prefer a grayish shade of blue instead,
■. Another acceptable shade of blue nowadays is the "cyan-gray"
■ variety.
For me, the modern day's "rejection" of sweet lovely blue hues is terribly sad. No wonder all my curtains, carpets and other stuff is old, because it is impossible to buy things that are the shade of blue that I want!
That's an old image of the Pleiades, but is that the future of blue in astrophotography? Except of course in mapped color images, where bright blue is sometimes used to show the presence of green OIII and green symbolizes the presence of red Hα.
Ann
Let's compare a few pictures of NGC 1333:
[float=right][img3="Photo: AAE-Agrupació Astronòmica d'Eivissa"]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/NGC_1333.jpg/1280px-NGC_1333.jpg[/img3][/float]
[img3="Photo: Michael Sherick"]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2111/ngc1333_RGB-c21024.jpg[/img3]
[float=right][img3="Photo: Mark Hanson. (Mark, I hope you are okay with me copying the small version of your image!)"]https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57e97e6ab8a79be1e7ae0ae6/1495231889029-2TYL2QUS8WZJRJQQ3XKA/Gum20finished4-6-17.jpg?format=1000w[/img3][/float][img3="Photo: Al Howard"]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1403/NGC1333_Howard23_900.jpg[/img3]
[clear][/clear]
Notice any differences between today's APOD (top left) and the other three images? Well, the blue reflection nebula of today's APOD looks more "transparent" than it does in the other images.
But there is another difference as well: The color of the reflection nebula. In today's APOD the hue of this nebula is washed-out and blandly grayish, whereas all the other three images show it in vibrant shades of blue. And the fact that this latest addition of the "NGC 1333 gallery" is so relatively lacking in blue color may well be a sign of the times, because brilliantly blue hues are ever less fashionable.
Not so long ago, light blue [size=200][color=#87cefa]■[/color][/size] was a popular color. Nowadays, this shade of blue is considered "tacky". If you want to be smart, you prefer a grayish shade of blue instead, [size=200][color=#748b97]■[/color][/size]. Another acceptable shade of blue nowadays is the "cyan-gray" [size=200][color=#94B5C2]■[/color][/size] variety.
For me, the modern day's "rejection" of sweet lovely blue hues is terribly sad. No wonder all my curtains, carpets and other stuff is old, because it is impossible to buy things that are the shade of blue that I want!
[float=right][img3="Old image of the Pleiades by David Malin. Is this the future of color in the Pleiades in astrophotography?"]https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/ukschmidt/pleiades_ukschmidt_clean_names.jpg[/img3][/float][img3="Mapped color image of the Pillars of Creation. "]https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/p1501ay_0.jpg?itok=8TJmuW1B[/img3]
[clear][/clear]
That's an old image of the Pleiades, but is that the future of blue in astrophotography? Except of course in mapped color images, where bright blue is sometimes used to show the presence of green OIII and green symbolizes the presence of red Hα.
Ann