Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: birdzoom on 04/05/2012 18:50:01

Title: Stars as dishes of different colours
Post by: birdzoom on 04/05/2012 18:50:01

Hello,

I would like astronomy simulators to allow us to see stars as dishes of different colours: violet the closest star till red the most distant set of the set.
Also to be able to see the connection between stars with strings in 3D that would be changing colour along accordingly, as well as have all sorts of glamour and "little love" features that would have different meanings.
I call this new field: String Astronomy.

Please comment.

~birdzoom

Title: Re: Stars as dishes of different colours
Post by: CliffordK on 04/05/2012 23:15:36

I like the idea, representing the redshift/blueshift of the stars and galaxies.

You would have to decide if you wished to use the entire rainbow spectrum, vs mixing two or three pure colors, for example doing bright blue to purple to bright red.

The sky would likely be filled with a mosaic of almost pure color.  However, the Milky Way would present as intense violet in a sea of red & blue polka dots, depending on the size of the dots, and your background color (black (or white?))

Have you seen this panoramic view of the Milky Way and the galaxy?

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15482  (rectangular)
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15481  (oval)

If you download it in hi-res, then you will be able to see all of the stars away from our galaxy which occupies the middle of the diagram.

This image may, in fact, give you some of the detail you wish.

Quote

Three of the four wavelengths surveyed by WISE were used to create this image. The colors used in this image represent specific wavelengths of infrared light. Cyan (blue-green) represents light emitted predominantly from stars and galaxies at a wavelength of 3.4 microns. Green and red represent light mostly emitted by dust at 12 and 22 microns, respectively.

Odd, when I render a partial download (or truncated version) of the 300MB tiffs, I get very vibrant red colors. 
When I let the download complete, I get the blues that the rest of the images are drawn in.

Title: Re: Stars as dishes of different colours
Post by: RD on 04/05/2012 23:38:15

Quote from: birdzoom on 04/05/2012 18:50:01

I would like astronomy simulators to allow us to see stars as dishes of different colours: violet the closest star till red the most distant set of the set.

It would be confusing as stars are actually different colours ...

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F8%2F89%2FSagittarius_Star_Cloud.jpg&hash=283408ae4fa10818a07032460996b3ac)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution

Title: Re: Stars as dishes of different colours
Post by: Airthumbs on 07/05/2012 02:25:54

If you took the piccy above and made it black and white and then added the red/blue shifts using a colour pattern it would be a very useful tool. 

Electron microscope pictures are b/w until they add in the colour.  Many details immediately stand out after colour is added and maybe this would be the same for Star Dishes....

Title: Re: Stars as dishes of different colours
Post by: CliffordK on 07/05/2012 02:56:33

Many of the star charts are taken in wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye, such as infra red.  For visual presentation, the colors are already being adjusted.

Color can be used to indicate a number of things including the heat given off by the star, but it could be used for other purposes too.

I assume that in some charts are normalized to our current frame based on redshift/blueshift.