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Is it possible to visualize how a human eye would see Pillars of Creation in real time? This always confused me with Hubble’s colorized photos.

wumpus 4y ago
Scientists are unconcerned with that question. Your eye is nothing like the Hubble. Your eye isn't that useful for doing science. Hubble images are.
- kortilla 4y ago
  The question wasn’t about scientists concerns.
- astrange 4y ago
  Well, eyes are actually very useful for doing science, I think.
sbierwagen 4y ago
Here's a stacked series of exposures adding up to 36 minutes of the Eagle nebula (of which Pillars of Creation is a zoomed in segment) https://noctilove.co.uk/portfolio/m16-eagle-nebula/ https://noctilove.co.uk/portfolio/m16-eagle-nebula/ About what you'd see from a 16 inch telescope in a superb dark sky location. A red smudge with hints of finer detail.
- augustuspolius 4y ago
  Thank you. If I was in a spaceship at a much closer distance to the object than I am right now, would I be able to see the dust and the shape similar to what we see on the photos? Or is this all invisible to the human eye?
  - sbierwagen 4y ago
    Sure. It's a physical object, reflecting broadband light from nearby stars. The colors would be different, and you might not see the same fine structure without filters, like how the Sun looks very different through a Calcium K line filter https://thelonelyphoton.com/2022/01/08/solar-imaging/ https://thelonelyphoton.com/2022/01/08/solar-imaging/ Given its size the density is probably pretty low, though. If you got right up next to it you wouldn't see much, in the same way a fog bank gets less visible when you walk towards it.
    - augustuspolius 4y ago
      Thank you - your explanation and that photo of the Sun with the Calcium K filter are very helpful. With so many colorized photos of space objects and so many artist impressions, I wasn’t sure whether space is just a black void to the human eye or we are capable of seeing the gorgeous colors of different nebulae and such.
fhars 4y ago
Yes, just open you favorite paint program, create a new image, select black color, select the fill tool, and click into the image. We don't spend oodles of money to build sensitive instruments to observe things you could see with the unaided eye.
dylan604 4y ago
Take the colorized image to B&W, and that would be closer to what the human eye could see. If you've ever been to a dark sky location so that you could see the Milky Way, then that's about what you'd see. Our eyes just are not sensitive enough to pick out colors. Even in a telescope, viewing objects like Orion's Nebula, which is incredibly bright, it is just B&W in the eye piece. Viewing Andromeda galaxy is also just B&W.

wumpus 4y ago

Scientists are unconcerned with that question. Your eye is nothing like the Hubble. Your eye isn't that useful for doing science. Hubble images are.

kortilla 4y ago
The question wasn’t about scientists concerns.
astrange 4y ago
Well, eyes are actually very useful for doing science, I think.

sbierwagen 4y ago

Here's a stacked series of exposures adding up to 36 minutes of the Eagle nebula (of which Pillars of Creation is a zoomed in segment) https://noctilove.co.uk/portfolio/m16-eagle-nebula/ https://noctilove.co.uk/portfolio/m16-eagle-nebula/ About what you'd see from a 16 inch telescope in a superb dark sky location. A red smudge with hints of finer detail.

augustuspolius 4y ago
Thank you. If I was in a spaceship at a much closer distance to the object than I am right now, would I be able to see the dust and the shape similar to what we see on the photos? Or is this all invisible to the human eye?
- sbierwagen 4y ago
  Sure. It's a physical object, reflecting broadband light from nearby stars. The colors would be different, and you might not see the same fine structure without filters, like how the Sun looks very different through a Calcium K line filter https://thelonelyphoton.com/2022/01/08/solar-imaging/ https://thelonelyphoton.com/2022/01/08/solar-imaging/ Given its size the density is probably pretty low, though. If you got right up next to it you wouldn't see much, in the same way a fog bank gets less visible when you walk towards it.
  - augustuspolius 4y ago
    Thank you - your explanation and that photo of the Sun with the Calcium K filter are very helpful. With so many colorized photos of space objects and so many artist impressions, I wasn’t sure whether space is just a black void to the human eye or we are capable of seeing the gorgeous colors of different nebulae and such.

fhars 4y ago

Yes, just open you favorite paint program, create a new image, select black color, select the fill tool, and click into the image. We don't spend oodles of money to build sensitive instruments to observe things you could see with the unaided eye.

dylan604 4y ago

Take the colorized image to B&W, and that would be closer to what the human eye could see. If you've ever been to a dark sky location so that you could see the Milky Way, then that's about what you'd see. Our eyes just are not sensitive enough to pick out colors. Even in a telescope, viewing objects like Orion's Nebula, which is incredibly bright, it is just B&W in the eye piece. Viewing Andromeda galaxy is also just B&W.