Starship Asterisk*

In another thread, Art said that a certain "color commentator" on these boards has been complaining that APODs are faked:

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 56#p133256

Art may be referring to a recent APOD where I was not entirely happy with the color of two images of NGC 7380 that he himself posted:

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 47#p133147

And you know, Art, you are right! I was, indeed, accusing you of partaking in a giant astronomy hoax intended to delude the hapless general public! I'm talking about the infamous NGC 7380 Hoax!

Haven't you heard of it? Here is how it works. Some computer wizard or other has computer-generated a black and white image of a purported nebula which doesn't really exist!!!

But there is a reason why the image is in black and white. Listen carefully. It is because the computer-generated image of purported nebula NGC 7380 is really a coloring page for adults who want to dabble with their own weird colors, even though they don't know how to computer-generate a nebula for themselves!

This is the purported computer-generated "nebula" "NGC 7380":
And the whole thing is really just a sort of coloring page for adults who want to dabble in their own wild colors!
And here is a coloring book for kids! That deer also doesn't exist!

And now I've blown that infamous NGC 7380 Hoax wide open!!!

Ann

You contributed to the hoax by submitting your own coloring book version and calling it true color.

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 56#p133156

You even identified the wrong image as The Wizard, the real Wizard is here.

Mmmm.... I was joking. Seriously.

If I had claimed that NGC 7380 does not really exist, and that it is just a computer-generated black and white image of a non-existing nebula for people to color to their heart's content, then I would have said that there was an NGC 7380 Hoax.

I was being ironic. Really. I do not believe that there is an NGC 7380 Hoax. I do believe that this nebula exists. Truly. I believe that existing photos of this nebula are genuine.

I am not claiming that Hubble palette images of this nebula, or of any other nebulae, are fakes. I don't doubt that Hubble palette images have been acquired in a scientifically sound manner. I don't doubt that the imagers have used OIII filter and Ha filters and one more filter that I can't remember. I don't doubt that their pictures are "true".

I much prefer ordinary RGB images myself. That doesn't mean that I think that Hubble palette images are faked. And I have never claimed that they are.

I made this post because Art accused me of saying that APOD images are faked. I have never said this. If I wanted to make such a claim, I may have written what I said in my post above. I meant my post as a demonstration: Look, this is what I would have said if I wanted to imply that APODs are faked.

Finally, I'm not sure what you mean when you talk about "The Wizard", bystander. I was talking about NGC 7380. The black and white image that I posted is a portrait of NGC 7380.

But to summarize: No. There is no NGC 7380 Hoax. And I have never said that an APOD has been faked.

Ann

Yes, Ann, I surmised you were joking. I was too. I didn't seriously believe you thought NGC 7380 was a hoax. I just found it ironic that the next post after neufer's colorized versions of NGC 7380, you posted one in true color (whatever that is). It seems, after all, it's just Art.

Your mention of The Wizard went by me, at the time, until I did a search on NGC 7380, and saw the gray scale image I posted above entitled The Wizard. It dawned on me then that NGC 7380 is the Wizard Nebula.

Ahh - Yes, the lost ART of Wizardry has struck again Sometimes it's a bit hard to duck out of the way of a cast spell quick enough and the next thing you know is that you want to see more Nebula's