Comment Re:Wow (Score 1) 60
1) These images are not photoshopped (at least not the ones on uahirise.org). If you knew anything about remote sensing, CCD sensors, image processing, or science, you'd know that.
http://www.uahirise.org/pdf/color-products.pdf [uahirise.org]
Have you actually read that PDF?
(My emphasis)
"PSP_005000_1000_RGB.NOMAP.JP2 3-color image consisting of RED, BG, and synthetic blue images. The BG image has been warped to line up with the RED.NOMAP image. The BG (blue-green) bandpass primarily accepts green light. The synthetic blue image digital numbers (DNs) consist of the BG image DN multiplied by 2 minus 30% of the RED image DN for each pixel. This is not unique data, but provides a more
appealing way to display the color variations present in just two bandpasses, RED and BG."
"For the Extras products, each color band is individually stretched to maximize contrast, so the colors are enhanced differently for each image based on the color and brightness of each scene. Scenes with dark shadows and bright sunlit slopes or with both bright and dark materials are stretched less, so the colors are less enhanced than is the case over bland scenes."
Whether one uses Photoshop or other software to enhance images to become more pleasing or effectful, it's generally called photoshopping.
Mars may look rather dull compared to Earth, and there's not much light there. But I'd much rather see things as they are, and the IR imagery displayed separately (preferably as black/white, as is traditional as it doesn't give any false impressions that it's visible light). That would be much more impressing than artificial colour "enhancements" and contrast stretching individual colour bands to make the images appear more colourful.
In many ways, exaggerating space images that are already impressive because they are from space to make more of an impact on the public isn't much different from photoshopping people to make their eyes bluer, lips redder, teeth whiter, and wrinkles less visible.
You CANNOT "see things as they are" with the HiRISE images.
1) Does your monitor display Infrared?
2) Does your monitor display "red" with the same bandpass that the HiRISE detectors are sensitive to?
3) Does your monitor display the bluegreen that HiRISE is sensitive to?
4) Are your eyes sensitive, in the same way as the HiRISE detectors, to the same bandpasses as the HiRISE detectors?
No.
5) It simply isn't "traditional" to show IR or other non-visible wavelength data as a separate grayscale image. Take a look at Hubble images.
6) The difference between photoshopping and processing these images is: a) there's documentation on exactly how it's done, and why, b) the "original--whatever that means" images are available to anyone who actually has an interest in the imagery rather than complaining about scientists.
7) Mars doesn't look dull compared with Earth. The bandpasses were chosen for science. The public images are just that, to excite the public. If you want to do science, then go to the original source. If you want to look at pretty pictures, then look at the pretty pictures.
What, precisely, would you like to see?
Would you like to see the raw numbers that come out of the detectors? Those won't do you much good since you clearly don't know anything about Mars science or remote sensing. Some amount of the "signal" is actually generated by the instrument. In addition, some amount of the "signal" is due to heat generated by the spacecraft, other instruments, etc. If you would like to see the raw data, go here:
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EDR/PSP/ORB_001500_001599/PSP_001552_1410/
Those raw data are reduced (calibrated) as soon as they hit the ground. Would you like to see those values? Would you like to see a representation of those values on your screen, in the form of an image?
Realize that the images you can view are different because your screen is an 8-bit display and the data acquired through HiRISE are 14-bit compressed to 8-bit, downlinked to Earth, uncompressed to 32-bit, processed in floating point, and recompressed to 10- or 8-bits, depending on the output format. Your screen can't display what was actually detected (raw) by the HiRISE instrument.
Instead of assuming that everyone in the world but yourself is dishonest, try doing a little---very, very, very little---digging and learning instead of trolling.
Here's the main page for the frost-covered gullies shown in the article:
http://www.uahirise.org/PSP_001552_1410
The mosaic of the red bandpass CCDs is here (not map projected, because I'm sure you'd find something to complain about there, too):
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_001500_001599/PSP_001552_1410/PSP_001552_1410_RED.NOMAP.browse.jpg
The mosaic of the blue-green, IR, and red bandpass CCDs is here:
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_001500_001599/PSP_001552_1410/PSP_001552_1410_IRB.NOMAP.browse.jpg
The color mosaic, with the stretching to enhance the color differences, is here:
http://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/PSP/ORB_001500_001599/PSP_001552_1410/PSP_001552_1410_RGB.NOMAP.browse.jpg
Realize that NONE of the images here show Mars as it would look to your eyes. None.
Also, all of those data are directly available from the front page for the image, including the raw data. So, clearly you didn't bother trying to find what you want to see, you just started bitching because you have some bone to pick with scientists.