Interesting article from the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67892275
Apparently the original Voyager 2 images of the outer ice giants, which were actually composite images taken in three different colors, had been deliberately published with altered color balance and enhanced contrast to show more detail, particularly on Neptune, which appeared more meteorologically active at the time. Such alterations make the image easier to study, even if they don’t match what the eye would see.
Images from the article:
The article explains that the original publication of the images contained captions noting this, but the images were so widely reproduced without them that the context has been gradually lost.
A recent study rebalanced the original data to produce images with the correct colors. It makes sense that Neptune and Uranus appear similar, given that their composition is also similar.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67892275
Apparently the original Voyager 2 images of the outer ice giants, which were actually composite images taken in three different colors, had been deliberately published with altered color balance and enhanced contrast to show more detail, particularly on Neptune, which appeared more meteorologically active at the time. Such alterations make the image easier to study, even if they don’t match what the eye would see.
Images from the article:
The article explains that the original publication of the images contained captions noting this, but the images were so widely reproduced without them that the context has been gradually lost.
A recent study rebalanced the original data to produce images with the correct colors. It makes sense that Neptune and Uranus appear similar, given that their composition is also similar.
