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Found out the famous Horsehead shot is a 1990 film scan and now I can't unsee it
I was reading an old Sky & Telescope piece from 1990 at the library last week and the author noted the Horsehead nebula image everyone shares online is actually a scan of film, not a modern sensor. The grain is baked in, the colors were chosen by hand, and that cropping was a darkroom call, not a telescope one. So do we keep sharing it as an accurate picture of space, or admit half our favorite shots are art projects? I am not saying toss it, but I want to know where people draw the line.
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robert6591mo ago
That 1990 S&T shot is the David Malin one from the UK Schmidt, and yeah, it was shot on Tech Pan film and the color was added later in the darkroom. Anyone who has actually stacked subs knows real hydrogen emission is mostly a dull red, not that pink and teal look, so the famous version is closer to an illustration than a photo. My line is simple: share it, just label it. Say "1990 film, hand colored" in the caption and nobody gets fooled, which is more than most reposters bother to do.
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