Coloring the Universe: An Insider's Look at Making Spectacular Images of Space - Hardcover

Rector, Travis A., Dr.; Arcand, Kimberly; Watzke, Megan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1602232733 ISBN 13: 9781602232730

Verlag: University of Alaska Press, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

With a fleet of telescopes in space and giant observatories on the ground, professional astronomers produce hundreds of spectacular images of space every year. These colorful pictures have become infused into popular culture and can found everywhere, from advertising to television shows to memes. But they also invite questions: Is this what outer space really looks like? Are the colors real? And how do these images get from the stars to our screens?

Coloring the Universe uses accessible language to describe how these giant telescopes work, what scientists learn with them, and how they are used to make color images. It talks about how otherwise un-seeable rays, such as radio waves, infrared light, X-rays, and gamma rays, are turned into recognizable colors. And it is filled with fantastic images taken in far-away pockets of the universe. Informative and beautiful, Coloring the Universe will give space fans of all levels an insider&;s look at how scientists bring deep space into brilliant focus.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Travis A. Rector is professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He has created over two hundred images with the giant telescopes at Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and others. Kimberly Kowal Arcand directs visualization efforts for NASA&;s Chandra X-ray Observatory, at the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Megan Watzke is the public affairs officer for the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

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Coloring the Universe

An Insider's Look at Making Spectacular Images of Space

By Travis A. Rector, Kimberly Arcand, Megan Watzke

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA PRESS

Copyright © 2015 Travis A. Rector, Kimberly Arcand, and Megan Watzke
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-60223-273-0

Contents

Foreword, 
Preface, 
Acknowledgments, 
1. Human versus Telescope: Comparing Telescopic Vision with Human Vision, 
2. This Is Not a Selfie: How Telescopes and Their Cameras Work, 
3. Coloring the Universe: Broadband Images, and How We Use Color, 
4. Color Is Knowledge: What Scientists Learn from Color with Broadband Filters, 
5. A Brief History of Astronomical Images: The History of How (and Why) Images Are Made, 
6. The Marvel of Hydrogen: The Most Important Element and How We See It, 
7. Seeing Red: How We See Color, and How We Use It, 
8. Narrowband Imaging: Addition by Subtraction, 
9. A Night in the Life: Observing with the World's Largest Telescopes, 
10. Outside the Rainbow: The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Different Kinds of Light, 
11. Photoshopping the Universe: What Do Astronomers Do? What Do Astronomers Not Do?, 
12. The Aesthetics of Astrophysics: Principles of Composition Applied to the Universe, 
Epilogue: Seeing the Eye (and Hand) of God: Pareidolia, or Seeing Faces/Objects in Astronomical Imagery, 
Notes, 
Resources, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

HUMAN VERSUS TELESCOPE

Comparing Telescopic Vision with Human Vision

SEEING IS BELIEVING

Images of space can inspire awe and wonder. But in many urban and suburban spaces, the light from stars is mostly drowned out by the artificial glow (called light pollution) that humans have created. This is one reason that the pictures taken by telescopes on the highest mountaintops and remote deserts on Earth, as well as the armada of observatories in space, are so important. They are dramatic windows into our Universe.

The popularity of cosmic images is easy to spot. We see space pictures on computer screens and tablets, splashed on billboards, album covers, clothing, and everywhere in between. Despite our attraction and connection with space images, many people are not sure that what these images show is real. When one of our images was recently featured on a blog, several commenters were skeptical. "Really? Not Photoshopped? Amazing." Another person commented in Spanish, "Me estas jodiendo, no puedo creer que no esté trucada." (Rough translation: "Are you kidding me? I don't believe this hasn't been modified.") Others express doubt that we can even see that far away.

These are important questions for us to ask and, just as critically, ones that need to be answered. So where and why does the confusion, or even controversy, arise?

Let's look at an example. For many space aficionados, the picture on the previous page is iconic. It captures a famous object called the Horsehead Nebula, which gets its name from the distinctive dark shape at the center of the image. It is part of a large cloud of gas and dust called a nebula, found in the constellation of Orion, where hundreds of stars are being born.

The image was taken with an advanced digital camera from a telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in southern Arizona. This is what the telescope and its camera can see. But let's pretend you had the ability to board a spaceship and fly to the Horsehead Nebula — what would you see? After a journey of more than a thousand light-years, you would finally arrive at your destination. You look out of the window

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Alaska Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1602232733
• ISBN 13: 9781602232730
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 250
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar