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Mind = blown

Even as a hobby astronomer …. sometimes I look at these images and it’s really hard to believe it’s real. Stunning.

There’s a dirty little secret when it comes to the stunning images produced by the Hubble Space Telescope. They’re not real. Honest. The scientists connected with Hubble take liberties no journalist would ever get away with—though in the name of science.

Gvb beat me to it. This isn’t what Hubble sees, what Hubble sees is in fact not very visually interesting. What we see in these images are enhanced interpretations for the purpose of gaining the favor of the public. Rightfully so.

This is a better explanation.

Well, the structures in that image are definitely real. We just can’t see them at all until someone colourizes them.

Hubble pictures are my favorite pictures. I’m big into outer space. I mean, I’m not an expert, I just love documentaries and pictures.

I hope commercial space travel is possible in my lifetime, but I’m not holding my breath.

Good explanation of hubble image processing.

Doesn’t lessen the magnificence of the subject matter.

As one of the commenters said:

Praise the Lord for his creation

I’ve always thought that one of the best parts of looking at these images is that you are having a look at the past. Business class time-travelling from your seat!

Thx for the links to the explanations, everybody. Agree with AMoreno, I don’t mind a little of colour interpretation to learn by eyesight some things human eyes can’t see; After all, nearly all the universe is dark matter we can’t even detect…