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Originally Posted by mickoking
Apparently David Malin's images have been processed to achieve natural colour. But the million dollar question is, what are the real colours of many astronomical objects?
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I think the 'natural' nebula color could only be observed with our own eyes and only if we were close enough to the object such that its light was bright enough to stimulate a daytime color response in our retinas.
The only alternative to being close enough is to use a camera to collect enough light and have the color balance in the camera match the spectral response of your eye. This is a tough one given the vagaries of collecting enough light and the effects of atmosphere, camera response, noise, skyglow, etc. etc.
Anyhoo, being limited to the spectral response of our eyes discards much of that lovely H-alpha detail we're so fond of seeing ! Horses for courses, heh, what!?
It would be nice however to know what some of these objects look like 'for real' if you could ever get close enough.
I guess what I'm looking for here is help with the question: which image do you find most pleasing ?