Rosetta's Earth Swing-by, 13th November, 2007 Options

[tedstryk]

Very cool image, but I get the feeling they forgot to account for nonlinearity of the computer screens.

Depends. The problem with compensating for the nonlinearity of a monitor is that it really washes out low contrast features. In reality the image has a far wider dynamic range than can be shown on a computer monitor, and Earth, with its dark oceans, somewhat brighter land, and really bright clouds really strains this. What I am saying is that it may not be accidental. It is a trade-off. One can compress the dynamic range on a monitor in a linear way and better replicate the relative brightness of things, or one can privilege the more interesting parts of the dynamic range and preserve low contrast details.

[ugordan]

One can compress the dynamic range on a monitor in a linear way and better replicate the relative brightness of things, or one can privilege the more interesting parts of the dynamic range and preserve low contrast details.

I was going for the former in this case. There's something about Earth that makes me want to see it appear as close as possible to what it would actually look like to human eyes, rather than doing any (in)advertent contrast enhancements. This is unlike oher objects like icy moons where the contrast is low and makes them look dull. This is our homeworld. You can compare low Earth orbit views taken by astronauts with ordinary cameras and see that they most of the time differ in contrast to these distant shots by space probes.

Of course, in the end computer screens still fail to visualize the sheer brightness of Earth in the blackness of space - it was often said to be painfully bright by Apollo astronauts as the eye had trouble adapting to a pitch black void and bright cloudtops at the same time.

Here's a fun comparison between Kaguya and Rosetta, processed to have a similar resolution and sharpness as Kaguya's shot (click to enlarge):

[Pertinax]

...but I think this was a day or two before landfall.

I agree. The more I looked at the image I realized as well that it had to have been a day or two earlier than I first though.

-- Pertinax

[ugordan]

LOL! Am I really the first one to realize the Rosetta shot is actually mirrored left-right?
Here's the correct view:



I knew there was something funny looking about that Australia

Here's proof:

[volcanopele]

Here is the image with north up and east to the right:

I did

[ugordan]

I did

Oh, my bad. I thought you just rotated it so north is up. I said to myself "where else would east be?"

Someone ought to let the Rosetta team know, though..