Curious Greenhorn

• by SpaceGawker

  Wondering if the colors are just a product of distance and being out of focus. I first thought it was from SDSS but apparently it's the hubble.

  Posted April 10, 2015 12:57 AM

• by vrooje admin, scientist

  Nope, this is a focused image of a star. The filter that makes up the blue color in these images uses a different camera than the red and green, and it has slightly better "seeing" (an unresolved star looks slightly smaller on the image), so most bright stars have a color gradient and look bluer toward the center and redder/greener toward the edges. If the telescope were out of focus all of that would smear out! 😃

  Posted April 10, 2015 4:42 PM

• by SpaceGawker

  Interesting, thanks for the thorough reply.

  Posted April 11, 2015 12:06 AM