this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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[–] zaphod@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In infrared. Titan basically looks like a brownish grey blob to the naked eye due to its incredibly dense atmosphere.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Knowing it's just color shifted makes me wonder if that white band in the upper right that looks like a reflection off the atmosphere is actually a reflection off the atmosphere. And also what method of color shifting was used. Are the colors representative of anything or did they just pick what made for the best photo?

[–] zaphod@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

They basically remap wavelengths, so yes, absolutely those would be representative of real features, either in the atmosphere or on the ground.

That said, absolutely, sometimes there's a bit of artistic license in how the wavelengths are mapped.

Edit: the space.com article on the image describes some of the physical features depicted:

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-saturn-moon-titan