Re: [APML] Color of Objects (was Astronomy Magazine M8)

[Rick Thurmond <thurmond@saber.net>]

Seems like we could get more scientific about color if we knew the 
actual distribution of spectral lines in a nebula.

I've been thinking about a spectrometer just for nebulae: light from the 
telescope is compressed from a two-dimensional image to a thin line by a 
cylindrical lens.  So spatial information is thrown away in one 
dimension, but we now have a rather bright line.  That line reflects off 
a diffraction grating or passes through a prism that separates it into 
its component colors (spectral lines for emission nebulae plus broadband 
for reflection nebulae) and is captured by a CCD or film.  So the image 
on the film or CCD is two-dimensional with one dimension being the 
original spatial dimension that wasn't compressed and the other 
dimension being the line spectrum.  From that we compute the relative 
strengths of the lines and know how to adjust the color balance of any 
images we take of that object.

Please, if anyone decides to make money off this idea, cut me in!

--Rick


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