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Saw a nebula photo that was purple, but I thought they're usually red. Is that normal?

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leoscott
leoscott5d ago
It depends on the gases and how the photo was processed. Hydrogen gives off that classic red glow, but other elements like oxygen emit blue-green light. When those colors mix or get enhanced with special filters, you can get some wild purple and magenta shades. A lot of those amazing space photos use filtered data to highlight different elements we wouldn't normally see.
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riley_singh
I used to think space colors were real, but @leoscott's post changed my mind.
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