Color in Deep Space

Don Davis is a Space artist trying to better visually understand the images taken by the Hubble telescope of deep space.

Here is the emission nebula NGC 604, in the nearby galaxy M33, the furthest galaxy visible to some unaided eyes. At left is the original green version, to the right is Don Davis's attempt at reconstructing the true color. Since the spectral wavelengths used in such photos are not RGB oriented, such attempts at reconstructed color are approximate but much closer to the real thing than the initial releases. The Hubble Heritage Project has attempted to address this issue with later versions of Hubble releases 'remixed' to approximate ground based results.

These images are very enhanced and could be compared to what a human eye several feet across would see.