Re: [APML] Astronomy Magazine M8

[Matt BenDaniel <matt@starmatt.com>]

At 02:31 PM 12/4/2001 -0800, Tony Hallas wrote:
>Matt,
> 
>   Are you sure that M8 is mostly gray with a hint of red?
>Every negative that I have seen of it comes out deeply cyan, indicating that a lot of red was being recorded. Even short exposures indicate the red, so it's not reciprocity failure.
>Most good negative films record colors quite faithfully within major color ranges during short exposures (less than 5 minutes) so I really wonder about this... if that is a mass of glowing hydrogen gas why wouldn't it be red?

That's what the camera sees. 

When people ask the question, "What is the 'real' color of M8?", ask them what they mean. Do they mean how does M8 appear to the human eye? 

What does M8 look like to the human eye through a telescope with 10 meters of aperture? Gray, perhaps with the slightest tint of pink.

I've seen slight green and pink tints in M42 through scopes with apertures between 15 and 30 inches, but I think that is the only nebula in which I've seen any color.

--
Matt BenDaniel
http://starmatt.com


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