Astronomy with the color blind

The standard method to create dramatic color images in astrophotography is to record multiple black and white images, each with a different color filter in the optical path, and then tint each frame with a color appropriate to the corresponding filter. When combined, the resulting image conveys information about the sources of emission in the field, although one should be cautious in assuming that such an image shows what the subject would “really look like” if a person could see it without the aid of a telescope. The details of how the eye processes light have a significant impact on how such images should be understood, and the step from perception to interpretation is even more problematic when the viewer is color blind. We report here on an approach to manipulating stacked tricolor images that, while abandoning attempts to portray the color distribution “realistically,” do result in enabling those suffering from deuteranomaly (the most common form of color blindness) to perceive color distinctions they would otherwise not be able to see.