• zaphod
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    7 months ago

    In infrared. Titan basically looks like a brownish grey blob to the naked eye due to its incredibly dense atmosphere.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Knowing it’s just color shifted makes me wonder if that white band in the upper right that looks like a reflection off the atmosphere is actually a reflection off the atmosphere. And also what method of color shifting was used. Are the colors representative of anything or did they just pick what made for the best photo?

      • zaphod
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        They basically remap wavelengths, so yes, absolutely those would be representative of real features, either in the atmosphere or on the ground.

        That said, absolutely, sometimes there’s a bit of artistic license in how the wavelengths are mapped.

        Edit: the space.com article on the image describes some of the physical features depicted:

        https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-saturn-moon-titan