Alien Anomalies

mikesingh · Member

RE: Why NASA Doesn't Want To Show Mars In True Color!

Timewarp · Dedicated to the truth

O'Brien wrote,

"Sadly, since there is no image taken with a red filter, I don't have an easily constructable color image to offer you in comparison. I don't believe that applying color masks alone directly to the three existing images can produce a representative image with the missing red-wavelength image. An approximation could be constructed through the use of the existing filters and transfer functions derived from images where all seven filters were used, but that's a cumbersome process and not the focus of my research at this time".

As a matter of interest, what is the focus of your research?

mikesingh · Member

Here are two color corrected images from space imaging expert, Keith Laney....

Notice the blues and greens? Is photosenthisis going on there? We now know that there are traces of ice/frost on Mars. So where there's water there could be life!

Here are some more interesting images. The first one is an original straight from NASA:

Heavy Frost, or Snow. Deposit at Viking Lander 2 Site (Viking Lander Image 211093).
Courtesy: Spherix Inc

Now for the smoking gun! The lander. Note the yellow cable:

NASA's image of the same on Mars. That cable's turned orange!!

Notice the color of the cable marked in white? Now let's correct that to match the original color of the cable:

See? Why is NASA fudging colors? No prizes for guessing!

Cheers!

OBrien · Member

Timewarp wrote:

If you consider the colours in the image are incorrect, perhaps you would like to post your version of the same scene using the same series of images so that an informative comparison can be made.

Xenon has stated the intention to change the Forum Rules and Guidelines so that more care should is taken in the presentation and citing of altered images versus original images. ("The rules and guidelines will be amended and members will be asked to post direct links to the original images they wish to show." "Many members are concerned that some of the images being displayed have had enhancement software used on them to show artefacts that are not really there, this practice must stop as the enhanced images corrupted and cannot be used as evidence.")

Your image is not the one cited, nor is it one created and published by NASA or an affiliated institution. Since it is a composite of multiple images where you personally manipulated the colors, it would be educational to know how you arrived at your result.

Sadly, since there is no image taken with a red filter, I don't have an easily constructable color image to offer you in comparison. I don't believe that applying color masks alone directly to the three existing images can produce a representative image with the missing red-wavelength image. An approximation could be constructed through the use of the existing filters and transfer functions derived from images where all seven filters were used, but that's a cumbersome process and not the focus of my research at this time.

Since you have already produced an image, are you able to share with us the methodology of how you produced it?

Timewarp · Dedicated to the truth

O'Brien,

If the images of the correct wavelength were available I would have used them. This is the reason why the colour image used the only images available.

If you consider the colours in the image are incorrect, perhaps you would like to post your version of the same scene using the same series of images so that an informative comparison can be made.

ICEMAN · Senior Member

O'Brien your painting yourself into a corner in every post. Learn to work with people please.

your painting yourself into a corner 2.jpg

OBrien · Member

xiriux wrote:
believe it that an RGB color image rendered with L2,L5,L7 filtered images has false colors.

Agreed, since the L2 filter is at 753 nm, outside the range of normal human vision.

xiriux wrote:

Look the following 2 images:

This image was captured by Spirit on sol55 at optical depth (tau) about 0.9

And this beautiful color images was captured on sol149 at about 0.2 optical depth (i.e. very clear weather---martian winter)

Could you provide the sources of these images, especially including any caption information regarding the color rendering?

xiriux · Member

Timewarp,

believe it that an RGB color image rendered with L2,L5,L7 filtered images has false colors.
Consider it that the raw images are nonlinearized, i.e. the low brightness values are higher than in real. In addition these filters have very narrow bandwidth (20-30 nm), that means their filtered images represent only very few of the necessery red/green/blue light energy. Therefore compose NASA the color images using the values of the filtered images as spectral radiation values and using these values to render the XYZ tristimulus values of each pixel, then derive the RGB values from them.
An other way is to create a "mathematical camera" using as reference the colors of the calibration target of any early sol, and compose each basic color (R, G, B respectively) as a linear combination of 5 filtered images. If you use the soil color as reference color, you can reach good result.

Look the following 2 images:

This image was captured by Spirit on sol55 at optical depth (tau) about 0.9

And this beautiful color images was captured on sol149 at about 0.2 optical depth (i.e. very clear weather---martian winter)
My opinion is that NASA sometimes release really true color images, but more times they publish images with wery strong orange colorization.

OBrien · Member

Timewarp wrote:

Please find below an image I posted in another thread which shows a near approximation of the real colour of the terrain. The image is a composite and uses the three independent colour images L2,L5,L7.

Can you provide details of which fractional intensity values you used for each of the filter images (L2, L5, L7), how you determined what those fractional values should be, and then what display colors you assigned to them? (And any other relevant details of how you combined the images to arrive at your color image.)

gbull · Veteran Member

just look at my avatar for color.

that's my bar.

Timewarp · Dedicated to the truth

mikesingh,

The comparison images you have displayed certainly highlight the fact that the colour representations of the terrain released by NASA are nowhere near correct. I believe NASA have done this with the images to create the age-old impression that Mars is a hostile and barren planet that is incapable of supporting any form of intelligent life, which is also an incorrect assumption.

Please find below an image I posted in another thread which shows a near approximation of the real colour of the terrain. The image is a composite and uses the three independent colour images L2,L5,L7. The scene was captured during sol 2116. The location is Troy and is where the MER Spirit is currently experiencing a host of problems with mobility. However, some of the images captured by Spirit in this particular area have given rise to some interesting extended research.

Notice the bluish tinge to the rocks and what would also appear to be a dressing of green vegetation on the hill to the right.

Ref: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/2116/2P314211080EFFB270P2560L5M1.HTML

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

qmantoo · Teaching the truth

Of course, I do not believe the NASA colours either, but there are various ways and formulas that you can combine the different filtered images to make up different 'true colour' photographs.

I also think that NASA believe no-one expects a publicity photograph to be 'real' and, just like a model in Vogue, it will be aesthetically enhanced for the sake of art.

gbull · Veteran Member

"There has been much discussion on the Internet how complicated the reproduction of true color images from Mars would be. Of course, a 100% precise reproduction is not possible as the human visual system can only be approximated by technical devices. Taking this fact, some scientist claim, that it is impossible to recreate the Martian colors. These scientists forget that on Mars the same Sun is shining as on Earth with just reduced intensity by 40% and the same optical and physical laws are valid."

bingo! i NEVER believed the colors of the pics NASA put out for us.

doesn't take a van Gogh to see the blatant red wash they permeate them with.

the question is why do that?

1 reason is to make it less desirable for people to insist on going, again, why?

for who's protection? earth or mars?

and i don't fall for the "dust in the air" excuse either. at least not for every pic.

Chandre · Dedicated to the truth

Another really interesting post, thanks Mike !

mikesingh · Member

Here are a few images from Spirit and Opportunity. NASA's red-green-blue composite panoramas of Mars were generated from images taken through Spirit’s Pancam's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 480-nanometer filters. I’ve included a couple of images from Opportunity too.

According to NASA/JPL:

These "natural color" views is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if we were there and able to see it with our own eyes.

Is that true?

Don't still believe NASA's playing games? Take a peek here...

That is the initial photograph taken by Spirit shown during a NASA press conference.

And here's what NASA turned it into before publication:

NASA/JPL image PIA 05036

So why has NASA done this? Why did they not publish it just as it was? Why did they saturate it to ridiculous levels?

There has been much discussion on the Internet how complicated the reproduction of true color images from Mars would be. Of course, a 100% precise reproduction is not possible as the human visual system can only be approximated by technical devices. Taking this fact, some scientist claim, that it is impossible to recreate the Martian colors. These scientists forget that on Mars the same Sun is shining as on Earth with just reduced intensity by 40% and the same optical and physical laws are valid.

Nobody with enough common knowledge would claim that you cannot create true color pictures on any location on Earth. Color is not always 100% correct, but the general colorization is represented so we can get the impression how it would look like on that location when viewing it with our own eyes.

NASA mentions ‘best estimate’! Well, here’s another look at the best estimate of what Mars would look like with just the combined RGB Auto Levels turned on. A slight increase in contrast has also been applied. NO additional colors have been superimposed on any of these images.

Is NASA fudging the colors to make it look like a hostile barren desert? The original NASA/JPL image is shown first followed by what should be the 'best estimate'. Here's a Viking image for starters, to show how NASA super saturates images....

NASA/JPL

Color corrected

Now for the goodies....Remember, the first of the images in the set of two is the original from NASA. The second is color corrected....

The image below shows blue sand! The second image is auto level corrected that shows the true color of sand. So is that snow on the surface that NASA wanted to hide?

And here's one for the road....Just like Earth, what?

So what's all that green and blue in these images? Moss? Lichen? Grass? Life? There's more, but later. Gotta hit the bar now! The Budweiser is a waitin'!!

Cheers!

All source images: Courtesy NASA/JPL

Edited to remove 'gibberish' at beginning of the post

-- Edited by Chandre on Thursday 9th of September 2010 06:19:19 PM