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Thread: Why does NASA use black and white video

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  1. #1
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    Why does NASA use black and white video

    Folks:
    I am not into film, or photos; however, I am having a hard time understanding why NASA would still use black and white for film and video. With all the advancements in photo/video compression - I would think color video/photos would not be hard to have, yet this could be only my lack of understanding the benefits of black and white photo/video.

    Can anyone enlighten me on this topic?
    Arrakis

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Yes it's all about how the photo-catatonic membrane of the lens commutes the approach of the atomic horizon...*runs off into the night screaming*

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    What footage are you referring to?

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    There really are not a lot of colors in space and its easier to colorize the photo's later.

    This cuts down on the amount of data to transmit.

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Actually, according to an astronomy class I took in university, NASA's photos are taken in multiple black-and-white stages. To get the best resolution possible they take multiple images with different-coloured filters, resulting in multiple black-and-white images. Each image corresponds to a different portion of the spectrum. So you'd have one image that shows the blue range of the spectrum, another for red, another for green, and so on. You can also have infra-red, x-ray, ultraviolet, etc... filters (which often get used in the false-colour images you see from NASA.)

    If you take a set of black-and-white images from different filters you can re-apply the colours, stack the images up, and get a true-colour image out the other end. But each individual filter results in a black-and-white image for that particular spectral range.
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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Because black and white photos are more artistic.

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Quote Originally Posted by ve4cib View Post
    Actually, according to an astronomy class I took in university, NASA's photos are taken in multiple black-and-white stages. To get the best resolution possible they take multiple images with different-coloured filters, resulting in multiple black-and-white images. Each image corresponds to a different portion of the spectrum. So you'd have one image that shows the blue range of the spectrum, another for red, another for green, and so on. You can also have infra-red, x-ray, ultraviolet, etc... filters (which often get used in the false-colour images you see from NASA.)

    If you take a set of black-and-white images from different filters you can re-apply the colours, stack the images up, and get a true-colour image out the other end. But each individual filter results in a black-and-white image for that particular spectral range.
    This makes sense to me--particularly when dealing with wavelengths outside visible light, what does "color" really mean, anyway?

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Quote Originally Posted by ve4cib View Post
    Actually, according to an astronomy class I took in university, NASA's photos are taken in multiple black-and-white stages. To get the best resolution possible they take multiple images with different-coloured filters, resulting in multiple black-and-white images. Each image corresponds to a different portion of the spectrum. So you'd have one image that shows the blue range of the spectrum, another for red, another for green, and so on. You can also have infra-red, x-ray, ultraviolet, etc... filters (which often get used in the false-colour images you see from NASA.)

    If you take a set of black-and-white images from different filters you can re-apply the colours, stack the images up, and get a true-colour image out the other end. But each individual filter results in a black-and-white image for that particular spectral range.
    ^ This

    You've got to remember that a lot of imagery in space is shot using sensors that see different parts of the spectrum from the human eye. There are actually several large space telescopes for example, and only one (Hubble) snaps pics in the visible range IIRC. The others are doing X-rays, gamma rays, and IR.

    A lot (most?) of the images you see coming out of NASA or other space agencies have been altered to suit public expectations, and isn't exactly what the original sensor would have recorded.

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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Quote Originally Posted by ve4cib View Post
    If you take a set of black-and-white images from different filters you can re-apply the colours, stack the images up, and get a true-colour image out the other end. But each individual filter results in a black-and-white image for that particular spectral range.
    I believe this is correct... Generally scientists use multiple colored filters and take a series of shots from each color spectrum which can reveal lots more info than one single color photo. In most of the astronomy books and magazines I read, you'll often see photos referred to as 'false color' which means the photos were taken this way. The colors might be interpretations of a computer as it adds colors to the filtered B&W images then combines them into one larger image. This is why so many astronomical photos have such brilliant photos.

    For years I scratched my head because when I watched Voyager 2 pass Neptune live in 1989 all the photos were B&W, yet years later the Voyager 2 photos were a vibrant blue. B&W layering is how and the colors were added here on earth.

    Secondary reasons are also bandwidth and technology. It takes much less bandwidth to send a B&W photo than color, plus most of the up-close photos we see of the outer planets were taken years ago by spacecraft created in the 70's - Voyager 1 & 2 for example - so color photography just wasn't that advanced. What's neat though is scientists now can still take those color filtered B&W photos from even the Voyager 1 & 2 missions and reapply modern techniques to yield new discoveries.

    Sam
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    Re: Why does NASA use black and white video

    Quote Originally Posted by ve4cib View Post
    Actually, according to an astronomy class I took in university, NASA's photos are taken in multiple black-and-white stages. To get the best resolution possible they take multiple images with different-coloured filters, resulting in multiple black-and-white images. Each image corresponds to a different portion of the spectrum. So you'd have one image that shows the blue range of the spectrum, another for red, another for green, and so on. You can also have infra-red, x-ray, ultraviolet, etc... filters (which often get used in the false-colour images you see from NASA.)

    If you take a set of black-and-white images from different filters you can re-apply the colours, stack the images up, and get a true-colour image out the other end. But each individual filter results in a black-and-white image for that particular spectral range.
    The part about capturing each spectral range is really important, too. The photographs are scientific data, and the specific light that reaches the camera is really valuable information. They can learn an incredible amount by those images alone.
    The James Webb Telescope is pretty exciting as far as science is concerned, for example, because it will capture more in the infrared spectrum.

    Wikipedia's article on the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (the one that gives us those amazing pictures of various rovers from space) has some information you may find enlightening, too:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Re...E_.28camera.29

    Another thing to keep in mind is that some of these instruments can seem a little bit weak to us lucky earthlings, but the difference with them is they will survive in the cold, empty darkness of space. Things have been known to use plain old components for that reason (I believe Hubble is one such case), since new designs are much more fragile.
    Here's a fun article to read:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...he_Mars_rovers

    The computers in Spirit and Opportunity are special radiation-hardened jobs, built for satellites, that do about 35 MIPS (million instructions per second). Mars Science Laboratory (the amazing new beast close to being launched) does 400 MIPS.
    The CPU in an Xbox 360 does around 19,200 MIPS, but those things die if you look at them funny.

    I'll see if I can find a comparison for flying things, but the computers in Spirit and Opportunity say it all. What distant land has your computer explored lately, hm?
    Last edited by Mr. Picklesworth; September 12th, 2010 at 01:02 AM.

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