The color content of the images from Curiosity are not correct.

Curiosity has been sending color images back to earth since the start of the mission on Mars but I have always suspected that there is something not quite right about the color content showing in the images.

Shown below is a MastCam capture of the sundial during sol 181 and the color rendition is not correct.

Has anyone else noticed this?

You should read up on the "problem" with getting "accurate" colors. I'm sure Nasa has plenty of information regarding that themselves on their site.

reply to post by arianna


wasn't there something about the first Mars color pictures being released having different tones of colors as well. The first ones compared to after when NASA "changed" them.
And ever since then, the pictures have had this strange "muddy hue"...

ETA:

On July 21, 1976, the media published the first color image sent back by Viking Lander 1 – which portrayed Mars with a very earth-like blue sky.

Adrien Crater

Originally posted by arianna
Curiosity has been sending color images back to earth since the start of the mission on Mars but I have always suspected that there is something not quite right about the color content showing in the images.

Shown below is a MastCam capture of the sundial during sol 181 and the color rendition is not correct.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Due to the dust and the lighting conditions on Mars, that's what the camera "sees" in its raw images.

Take a look at the "white Balanced" versions of the images from NASA. Those white balanced images are supposed to be more like what that landscape would look like under earth lighting conditions, such as this image:

marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov...

The color in this photo of Mars is all off.

Originally posted by arianna
Shown below is a MastCam capture of the sundial during sol 181 and the color rendition is not correct.

And what would be the correct colour rendition?

You have to keep in mind that there is a lot of dust in the martian atmosphere, which gives everything yellowish/orangish hue, similar to what you see during dust storms on Earth.



Judged by this MAHLI image, there also seems to be a lot of dust accumulated on the sundial: mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

Here's a shot of the martian sky as the Mastcam and MAHLI see it:

Mastcam


MAHLI

Originally posted by arianna
Curiosity has been sending color images back to earth since the start of the mission on Mars but I have always suspected that there is something not quite right about the color content showing in the images.

The cameras have many filters to image different wavelengths, but very few of the images taken are the normal human eye bands of red, green blue.
The overwhelming vast majority of the images are with filters used that are more useful to geologists. NASA will put them up on the net for you to see, but dont expect them to be "natural", because they arent.

The MASTCAMS for example...

Filters for the 34 mm Mastcam are (in nanometers): 440, 525, 550, 675, 750, 865, 1034, and 880(neutral density).
Filters for the 100 mm Mastcam are (in nanometers): 440, 525, 550, 800, 905, 935, 1035, and 440(neutral density)

Oh, man, not this topic again! Get ready for another 25 pages of folks who think Mars has bright blue sky and green grass and it's all being covered up by JPL and NASA (who supplied the photos) because they... what? Don't want any more money to explore life on Mars?

It makes perfect sense!

Originally posted by Blue Shift
Oh, man, not this topic again! Get ready for another 25 pages of folks who think Mars has bright blue sky and green grass and it's all being covered up by JPL and NASA (who supplied the photos) because they... what? Don't want any more money to explore life on Mars?

It makes perfect sense!

edit on 11-2-2013 by Blue Shift because: (no reason given)

Hey!
Take your commie rationalism away from my lawn!

Actually, I think it's sometimes even disturbing when looking at those versions of the images that had been adopted to earth lighting conditions. After having looked at so many pics from previous missions, I kind of got used to that 'reddish' look of Mars.

Apart from that, I didn't really come across any situation where I would have seen 'more' detail on the color-corrected versions, but I can imagine that geologists might need them for direct earth-mars comparisons. But, obviously, I'm not an expert at this!!

P.S.: And I'm working hard to get my first 20 posts together!!