Actual color photograph of comet 67P.

[Fr8monkey]

Link to story: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/09/19/4090826.htm

Edited September 25, 2014 by Fr8monkey

[astropapi1]

That is both terrifying and inspiring at the same time. Can't wait to get pictures from the surface!

[General Rarity]

Wow. Just... maybe a few words?

Reminds me a lot of what the pictures the Apollo astronauts took while on the Munar surface.

[Streetwind]

There's an app a thread for this: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79190-Rosetta-Philae-and-Comet-67P-Churyumov-Gerasimenko

[Aningaaq]

That is not an "actual color" photo but simulated.

Artist said this about this photo: "Hi all, no raw data.

No OSIRIS image has been released with different filters so can get an RGB image as result.

We started with a single image flic.kr/p/p6kuZs working on the information that we all know (low albedo, dusty surface, and so on), obtaining three virtual layer. Processing, as long as even our eyes were pleased and believed what they was looking at.

In a way, we pushed to limit a technique that we use for a long time to make color native b/w shots to increase the visual perception."

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lunexit/14999812157/

[Nibb31]

It looks eerily like a mountain top in the Alps, but floating in space... You could nearly picture a Swiss chalet on the slope

[Scotius]

I thought the same - it does look just like a mountain in space. And is very...gray

[Sky_walker]

That is not an "actual color" photo but simulated.

This.

Change the misleading title.

[Camacha]

Change the misleading title.

Ask nicely.

[lajoswinkler]

Yeah, this is a simulated photo and in fact quite useless because no colour data has been released yet. They could've painted it green or purple.

The brightness has been increased enormously, too. I wish ESA would release something an astronaut would actually see, holding on the probe.

[Nibb31]

It looks like it has some sort of HDR processing going on, which brings out the details.

[Kryten]

I wish ESA would release something an astronaut would actually see, holding on the probe.

Not an ESA image, but roughly accurate;

[Fr8monkey]

This.

Change the misleading title.

From the article:

Mission managers used Rosetta's OSIRIS multi-colour camera, which has 12 different colour filter wheels to capture this image.

Comet-67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is blacker than coal dust, with only four per cent of sunlight being reflected from the surface.

To counter this effect, the image had the brightness and contrast enhanced to give a more meaningful view for humans to see.

And it is a color photo, so I don't know what the big deal is...

[Kryten]

From the article:[snip]

Yes, Osiris has coloured filters. It hasn't used any of them, at least for released images.

[Aningaaq]

Here is the original image

[Aningaaq]

If you can read Italian then it explains it a little more here: http://www.aliveuniverseimages.com/speciale-missioni/missioni-nel-sistema-solare/rosetta/930-esa-rosetta-i-primi-dati-di-alice,-cosima,-osiris-e-virtis

But I posted an English response from these guys on the first page too.

It might represent real colors but it is a simulated, thus a guess.

[lajoswinkler]

Not an ESA image, but roughly accurate;

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTApvCp21lf4O32vjYqGvLNEnke2bKG78zF7sh2O4tftJ5Zp782Sg

Large objects with very low albedo actually look decently lit when viewed from distance because, with increasing distance, their angular diameter drops a lot more faster than the amount of light that reaches the sensor. Also, remember that the human eye is adaptable to even very low levels of light. Even with bright and dark stuff in the same field of vision, eye+brain can process an image quite well.

I'm sure the comet would be quite apparent to a human eye at Rosetta's distances.

What could suffer is eyes' ability to distinguish colours. With dropping luminosity, we're less and less able to perceive hue and saturation. I'm not sure how apparent would that be in this very case, but it has to be considered as a possibility.

Consider these photos.

Typical comets are just a bit more darker than coal.

Edited September 26, 2014 by lajoswinkler