by Ann » Thu Sep 28, 2023 5:48 pm
Indeed, good question. But if you go to
this page, you'll see that the data for this image was acquired through 23 hours 20 minutes exposure through a red Ha filter, 32 hours 40 minutes through a greenish-cyan OIII filter, 24 hours through a red SII filter, and 9 hours 15 minutes through RGB filters.
Do note that the longest exposure was through the cyan-green OIII filter. It seems certain that the OIII filter image was mapped as blue. It is possible that both the Ha filter image and the SII filer image were mapped as red (well, these wavelengths are intrinsically red, of course).
If there is a lot of OIII in the center of the Lagoon Nebula, and certainly a lot of Ha and maybe SII as well, then the combination of a "blue-mapped" OIII image and red Ha and SII images may indeed result in a purple-looking center of the Lagoon Nebula.
Ann
[quote=johnnydeep post_id=334076 time=1695907203 user_id=132061]
[quote="Chris Alex" post_id=334074 time=1695906803 user_id=147043]
More like the Deep Purple Lagoon...Why this color?
[/quote]
Good question, considering that just a little further out (seen in the full image at https://astrodrudis.com/messier-8-another-view/) the dust is much redder:
[img2]https://astrodrudis.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/M8-Mos-SL10-DCPrgb-st-154-cCb-1816x2048.jpg[/img2]
[/quote]
Indeed, good question. But if you go to [url=https://astrodrudis.com/messier-8-another-view/]this page[/url], you'll see that the data for this image was acquired through 23 hours 20 minutes exposure through a red Ha filter, 32 hours 40 minutes through a greenish-cyan OIII filter, 24 hours through a red SII filter, and 9 hours 15 minutes through RGB filters.
Do note that the longest exposure was through the cyan-green OIII filter. It seems certain that the OIII filter image was mapped as blue. It is possible that both the Ha filter image and the SII filer image were mapped as red (well, these wavelengths are intrinsically red, of course).
If there is a lot of OIII in the center of the Lagoon Nebula, and certainly a lot of Ha and maybe SII as well, then the combination of a "blue-mapped" OIII image and red Ha and SII images may indeed result in a purple-looking center of the Lagoon Nebula.
Ann