Starship Asterisk*

I was picking up BBC's Nightsky Live, an astronomy magazine, and started browsing it. On one of the first things I saw was an infrared image of the Pleiades in yellow and green. The picture resembled this one:



Gahhh!!!! You can imagine how I took offense. The very idea of showing one of the bluest objects in the sky as yellow and red is almost more than I can take. Even worse was the fact that the magazine "helpfully" told me to pay attention to the yellow, green and red hues of the picture and enjoy these false colors, I suppose!!!

The next picture was an ESO image of hot Wolf Rayet star WR 22 and its surroundings in Carina:
It's a pretty picture, isn't it? The star even looks blue. Of course it is blue, being a Wolf-Rayet star and all, but of course it is reddened by dust when seen from our perspective. Nevertheless, the star is blue and looks blue here. So do you think that the magazine asked us to note the blue color of the star? Nu-uh! Absolutely not! Paying attention to the blue color of blue objects in space, how uncool!

Well, I had had it! I bought Astronomy Now, which I had also been browsing, but I put BBC Nighstsky Live back on the shelf with a thump. Normally I don't browse astromagazines without buying them. It gave me great pleasure to do just that in this particular case!



I'm not laughing at you, Britney (if that is Britney - maybe it's Paris?). I'm laughing at BBC Nightsky Live. They made no money out of me, no sirree!!!

Ann

Ann wrote:I was picking up BBC's Nightsky Live, an astronomy magazine, and started to browse it. On one of the first things I saw was an infrared image of the Pleiades in yellow and green. The picture resembled this one...

Golly, Ann, you do have some strange ideas!

(FWIW, I'd argue strongly for displaying images made in non-visual bands using color palettes where there is no possibility of confusing what is being shown for "true color". For instance, using a palette for the IR Pleiades image that produced blue stars or a blue nebula would simply be irresponsible!)

Ann, this is a neurotic obsession. Quit.

geckzilla wrote:Ann, this is a neurotic obsession. Quit.

Hah! No, because the situation I described is exactly the kind of situation I can indulge in it.

Most of you would probably sympathize with someone who didn't buy some music because it was performed or composed in such a way that the music-lover really couldn't stand it. Well, I react to color the way most people react to music, and I find it very satisfying to reject the color that offends me!

Ann

Ann wrote:Most of you would probably sympathize with someone who didn't buy some music because it was performed or composed in such a way that the music-lover really couldn't stand it. Well, I react to color the way most people react to music, and I find it very satisfying to reject the color that offends me!

Generally, astronomy magazines are mainly about science, with aesthetics taking second position. In my opinion, your attitude here is the same as somebody who would ignore a new scientific discovery because the journal used an ugly font.

If your real interest in in aesthetics, I'd recommend staying away from all magazines. Buy prints from imagers you like, and don't forget calendars. They often have lots of pretty pictures.

Chris Peterson wrote:

Ann wrote:Most of you would probably sympathize with someone who didn't buy some music because it was performed or composed in such a way that the music-lover really couldn't stand it. Well, I react to color the way most people react to music, and I find it very satisfying to reject the color that offends me!

Generally, astronomy magazines are mainly about science, with aesthetics taking second position. In my opinion, your attitude here is the same as somebody who would ignore a new scientific discovery because the journal used an ugly font.

If your real interest in in aesthetics, I'd recommend staying away from all magazines. Buy prints from imagers you like, and don't forget calendars. They often have lots of pretty pictures.

Thanks for the good advice, Chris. I admire your extremely scientific mind and your dedication to science.

Is it your impression, though, that I take no interest in science at all?

Admittedly it doesn't matter if that is your impression. I know what I'm interested in, and the opinion of me by other people doesn't change my true interests.

As for BBC Nighstsky Live, it is not the kind of magazine that I would buy to enhance my scientific understanding. That magazine is mostly aimed at beginners, and it does its best to please those who love aesthetics, too. For myself, I find most of their "factual texts" relatively uninteresting, so to me this magazine really is a lot like a calendar with pretty - or in this case, not so pretty - pictures!

Once again, Chris, I admire your scientific mind, and I'm glad you hang around these boards! Thanks! And geckzilla, I appreciate your presence here, too!

Ann

I've participated on a number of classical music boards over the years. Several of them were visited by one particular poster who extolled, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, the virtues of one particular work. He was quite obsessed with that particular opera; everyone else on the boards grew quite tired of the obsession, as it showed up on every thread the guy posted on, in nearly every post the guy made. His obsession with that opera became very disruptive on these various boards.

He's still obsessed with that opera, and still posting about it on the music boards that haven't banned him. He cannot talk about any other music except in relation to that one opera. His knowledge, such as it is, revolves around his obsession. His obsession with the opera has not made people appreciate the opera more (indeed, some posters will likely never listen to it again); it simply made him appear a johnny-one-note who didn't really care about music at all, but rather, just that one opera, the subject of his obsession.

Wow! Imagine these responses!

A friend of mine has a rather old cat, and last winter, when there was a lot of snow, her husband carried the cat out in the garden and dumped it unceremoniously in the snow. The cat leaped at least a meter straight up and then ran like a bolt of lightning for safety in the house!

You are cruel, I protested. Poor cat! Not at all, she replied. These things invigorate them. Make them full of energy.

So I was thinking of the cat and the tremendous leap it made when I read these responses. I am the owner of more than eighty books on astronomy and more magazines than I can count, but when I told you about the pleasure I derived out of not buying that one magazine, a beginners' magazine with lots of pictures in it, some of you made the kinds of leaps that would put that poor cat to shame!

Well, I think it invigorated some of you. Glad to be of service!

Ann

May I just say Ann, that while I understand you may give the impression of being slightly obsessed with colour, I have learned a great deal about colour in astronomical images from reading your reactions -- positive as well as negative -- and from others' responses to your reactions. Keep up the good work.

It is perfectly possible, though we rarely speak of it, for a person's ability to perceive colour or to hear sounds to differ from another's to the same degree their respective hair colours may differ, or their heights, or their ability to throw accurately. It's not at all surprising to me to find a person with such a strong reaction to colour inhabiting a place where colour in imagery can convey either information or emotion.

I perceive music almost as well visually as I do aurally, but that doesn't help me talk to musicians about it. Quite the contrary in fact. (I'm not talking about reading musical notation, but seeing it when I hear it.) I admire Ann's attempts to communicate her perceptions to those of us who can't see eye to eye with her.

Rob

rstevenson wrote:May I just say Ann, that while I understand you may give the impression of being slightly obsessed with colour, I have learned a great deal about colour in astronomical images from reading your reactions -- positive as well as negative -- and from others' responses to your reactions. Keep up the good work.

It is perfectly possible, though we rarely speak of it, for a person's ability to perceive colour or to hear sounds to differ from another's to the same degree their respective hair colours may differ, or their heights, or their ability to throw accurately. It's not at all surprising to me to find a person with such a strong reaction to colour inhabiting a place where colour in imagery can convey either information or emotion.

I perceive music almost as well visually as I do aurally, but that doesn't help me talk to musicians about it. Quite the contrary in fact. (I'm not talking about reading musical notation, but seeing it when I hear it.) I admire Ann's attempts to communicate her perceptions to those of us who can't see eye to eye with her.

Rob

Rob, i find that i really cannot disagree with you.
I think Ann is somewhat amazing! Here is a person that seems to always be into something 'blue'.
Usually if someone says that they are feeling blue, they are referring to being a little depressed.
However, in Ann's case, when she is really into something blue, it's more like she is 'hyper-happy!!'.

Do you think it might have something to do with taking 20'-30' below 0'-F saunas and then running around in the snow naked while watching your body steam??

Ann, I'll bet that you really liked the Paul Bunyan story when you were a kid.

Now for a question for you, Rob. From what i have been able to find out about Toroidal Pixelator, i can only deduce that it means a covered donut. So imput from The Toroidal pixelator himself would be apreciated.

Ann wrote:Well, I think it invigorated some of you. Glad to be of service!

Ann

An odd spin IMO, but to each her own.

~~~
Re: the obsessed opera fan, I see that what one board did was set up a thread for discussion of the topic of the man's obsession, and nothing else. That seems to have helped the situation on that board.