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Ape_Togetha_Strong t1_j43x9og wrote

Light comes in different wavelengths. If you collect light in at least 3 different wavelengths, you have "color" as the human eye/brain knows it. If you want it to match what our eyes see, you collect light at the same three parts of the EM spectrum that the three different color sensors in our eye are sensitive to.

The reason for them giving off different amounts of light in different wavelengths is that different molecules and atoms emit, absorb, and scatter light differently. Things of different temperatures also give off different wavelengths of light. All of which can be collected and assigned to one of the axes of the color space of an image.

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2rawlouvre t1_j43uphk wrote

In images.. an artist. In nature light and different gasses and whatnot.

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darrellbear t1_j44ei30 wrote

Hydrogen emission is red. Oxygen is blue-green. These are true colors and make up the bulk of emission. Other elements do produce colors, neon is red too, for instance. Emission happens when gases are ionized and then recombine--excited electrons leave the atoms, then rejoin. Photons of characteristic color/energy are released upon recombination, hence the red of hydrogen and blue-green of oxygen. Hydrogen is common in "stellar nursery" nebulas, hence they're mostly reddish. Planetary nebulas often show a lot of green due to doubly ionized oxygen.

The so-called Hubble palette is actually false color, produced with narrowband filters--sulfur is shown as red, hydrogen as blue, oxygen as green.

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Click_Click_Broooom t1_j43yd46 wrote

Different gas is picked up by different filters in images. Oxygen is a blue filter for example. When capturing deep space objects a camera like a ZWO has set filters or filters to add to be able to image the gas. It is then stacked in hundreds of images to create deeper gas pronunciation. This is then tinkered with in a photo imaging application like photoshop.

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hannahmontana1814 t1_j445gww wrote

It's the result of different gases and dust particles being illuminated by nearby stars!

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space-ModTeam t1_j45fq99 wrote

Hello u/tackleberry2219, your submission "What causes the different colors and cloud effect in nebulas?" has been removed from r/space because:

  • Such questions should be asked in the "All space questions" thread stickied at the top of the sub.

Please read the rules in the sidebar and check r/space for duplicate submissions before posting. If you have any questions about this removal please message the r/space moderators. Thank you.

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DefiantStomp t1_j443lw8 wrote

Tyson explained it. The telescopes see in infrared. We do not. We see RGB. So the telescope sees multiple frequencies and translates invisible (to our naked eye) light into light we can perceive.

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