Re: is NGC 6543 actually red?
Posted by Richard Jacobs, M.D. on Jul 01, 2002 at 14:58
(204.107.47.109)Re: is NGC 6543 actually red? (Costas)
Red is a physiologic perception of electromagnetic energy. As such, the whole debate about "true color" becomes somewhat metaphysical. But if the camera is calibrated on a spectral class G2 star, such that the weighting of red, green, and blue is adjusted so that the G2 star appears to be "white", and this same calibrated camera is used to image NGC6543, one will see that this planetary nebula is a blue-green color with red poles.
See my image of NGC 6543 for what one may regard as "true color":http://www.azastronomy.com/images/NGC%206543ColorLabel.jpg
Regards,
Rich Jacobs, M.D.
http://www.azastronomy.com