APOD: ISON, Mars, Regulus (2013 Oct 17)

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks all for your responses to my comment about the Leo 1 dwarf galaxy, which are appreciated.

From the image brought up through Ann's link I now realise that Leo 1 is a wispy faint blue area in the APOD. I still however think that it is too faint to have been noted in the explanation in that it looks just like some other wispy faint blue areas around Regulus, though admittedly just above those.

[StarCuriousAero]

I think it may be worth noting that some monitors might not be capable of seeing Leo I, for instance, at work I have a monitor used in conjunction with a laptop, and the monitor can't see it no matter how much I fiddle with the brightness/contrast/color, but the laptop screen shows it just fine. For especially colorful images I always have to drag my APOD window over to my laptop to get full enjoyment, the difference is astounding sometimes.

The actual screen on a laptop is likely to be inferior to that of a standalone monitor. That said, adjusting the brightness and contrast on a monitor- especially a LCD monitor- is only of limited value. What is important is having the right color profile installed on your computer. Using the one supplied with the monitor (but often left uninstalled) is a good start, although using a hardware calibrator is best.

Unfortunately I have limited options on my work computer, I can't install anything on my own. Although, the monitor does have built in adjustments for picking sRGB, 9300K, 7500K, 6500K, 5400K, or a user specified setting, they all seem to be pretty worthless. Laptop looks better no matter how much I adjust the color, but that might be because it's new and the monitor is at least 5 years old.

*Edited for spelling.

[geckzilla]

Does sunlight ever shine on the monitor, Star? I wonder if the plastic which should be clear has yellowed and darkened due to exposure to UV light. I always wonder about that and whether it's possible for dust to get inside an LCD screen and cover the screen between the backlight or even the backlight itself and cause dimming over time. I would hope they are sealed well enough to avoid such a thing but haven't ever investigated it. I've got one monitor where the backlight behaves much like any old office fluorescent bulb that takes forever to warm up. It'd be fine if the just the light were replaced but I don't know if that's a good idea.

[Chris Peterson]

Unfortunately I have limited options on my work computer, I can't install anything on my own. Although, the monitor does have built in adjustments for picking sRGB, 9300K, 7500K, 6500K, 5400K, or a user specified setting, they all seem to be pretty worthless. Laptop looks better no matter how much I adjust the color, but that might be because it's new and the monitor is at least 5 years old.

It may be that the laptop has a better display. But I'd guess it's actually because the laptop has a color profile installed. They usually do, since the screen and computer are part of the same system, so manufacturers tend to ship them with all the right drivers- including the color profile- already installed.

Desktop computers don't come with anything except standard generic color profiles, and you need to apply a custom profile when you attach a new monitor. Many times this step is skipped, so you end up using a generic profile that is a poor match to the monitor.

If you're using a Windows 7 computer at work, try the Color Management app in Control Panel. Unless you're heavily locked down, that can be used to create a color profile, and doesn't typically require any administrative privileges.