Warning: That viral photo of the Andromeda galaxy might not be real colors
I saw this amazing shot of Andromeda on Instagram and commented about how beautiful the pink and blue gas clouds were. Then someone replied saying those colors are totally fake, just artistic interpretation. I looked into it and apparently most deep sky photos use filters that assign colors to specific gases, like sulfur gets mapped to red even though it's actually a different wavelength. It really surprised me because I always thought those Hubble shots were accurate to what you'd see if you flew out there. But then again, isn't the whole point of astrophotography to make the invisible visible? Some people say false color is misleading for beginners, while others argue it's the only way to show details our eyes can't see. Where do you draw the line between artistic license and scientific accuracy in a photo?