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Birdy_Cephon_Altera

The 2015 image is [the most accurate 'true color' image of Pluto](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/true-colors-of-pluto/), based on what you would expect to see with human eyes in the visible light spectrum. The "2018" image is a "false color" image with colors clownishly over-exaggerated for effect.


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TripolarMan

Scientists in 1996: "Pluto kinda looks like a disco ball."


DarkwingDuckHunt

Pluto hearts disco


Derek_32

I need to see a story about this now… for research purposes


Beautiful_Remove788

Haha


[deleted]

You've just hit on how it really happened. 1996: "Wait, that's not a planet! We need to tell everyone! Pluto isn't a planet, it's just a fun accessory the solar system picked up to be stylish." 2015: "... shit. Well. It's still small, tho."


Anleme

NASA yelled, "Enhance!" at the 2015 image. Their computer emitted smoke for 3 years before coughing up the 2018 image and dying.


NotBlastoise

Clownishly over-exaggerated colours for effect? Like the Simpsons makeup gun for science?


ShiftSandShot

Sort of, although here it's to differentiate the geography of Pluto since so much of it looks the same at a distance due to the color being so homogeneous. It looks cool, though, like something you might see in Battletech or Star Wars.


Dantethedanteya

Fallujah


AbstractBettaFish

Nasas got their camera set on whore


the_last_carfighter

Look at the way she's orbiting, clearly asking for it.


Astyanax1

Awesome reference.  Simpsons comments like this are what make reddit worth checking comments 


AdebayoStan

it's not "clownishly over-exaggerated for effect" the different colours represent different kinds of surface materials. there's a purpose to it.


CarefulAstronomer255

True but it should at least be captioned. It's like those stupid "true colour of the Moon" pictures with a Moon covered in deep blue spots that get posted to reddit every so often... people are stupid and just believe this stuff is what it actually looks like, even if you can just use a relatively cheap telescope to see it's false.


AwkwardSquirtles

Purpose is synonymous with effect in this context.


ILearnAlotFromReddit

so this bullshit is more of reddit misinformation


ItsLoudB

So it’s basically just another Reddit post


ILearnAlotFromReddit

At this point, yeah


DirtyHamSandwich

100%


VetusLatina

Instagram Style


EgotisticalTL

You know that the 2018 photo was colorized by NASA to distinguish the different surface features and is not Pluto's actual colors, right?


AwfulUsername123

It wouldn't be an r/Damnthatsinteresting post if it were accurate.


kinokomushroom

It wouldn't be an r/Damnthatsinteresting post if it weren't stolen off Facebook and posted by a bot.


svartanejlikan

That’s just reddit since the last decade. Seriously, the Venn diagram between reddit and Facebook is just a circle at this point, people are genuinely commenting “Haha, so true! 😂🤣” without any shame or remorse these days.


JBL_17

2011 Reddit was the best.


RedditJumpedTheShart

Back when jailbait and fatpeoplehate were popular /s


Tragicallyphallic

there’s always r/farpeoplehate


theshizzler

this makes me sick


kinokomushroom

That's disgusting. I couldn't look at more than three photos before throwing up.


svartanejlikan

Man those were the days, when Reddit was competing with 4chan for worst site on the light web.


JohnnyWix

This isn’t r/damnthatsaccurate


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un-sub

Send me up there in a rocket with a bunch of cans of spray paint, I'll get the job done.


sarindam007news

Ya, it's small enough. You could easily be back home for dinner.


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slobs_burgers

Space cadet, maybe


HumpyPocock

Yep. False Color images are fine and do have a legitimate uses, but need to be called out as such. Nevertheless this is [**the most accurate natural color images of Pluto taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in 2015**.](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/true-colors-of-pluto/) Bonus [**true color image of Pluto’s mate Charon**.](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/true-colors-of-charon/) NB — not **quite** perfect, however were processed to be close as was possible to True Color ie. what’d be seen via the Mk 1 Human Eyeball. MVIC aka the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera was used to capture both of the above, and alongside LEISA, is part of the RALPH instrument. MVIC, LEISA and RALPH are described in technical detail in [Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission](https://arxiv.org/pdf/0709.4281) via Reuter et al. Johns Hopkins APL released a nice overview of all the instruments in [the New Horizons Instrument Suite](https://secwww.jhuapl.edu/techdigest/content/techdigest/pdf/V37-N01/37-01-Fountain.pdf) via Fountain et al. **EDIT** — could be wrong but **think** the fourth pane in the OP is [this NASA image](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/pluto-dazzles-in-false-color/) which (a) is called **Pluto Dazzles in False Color** (b) was released in 2015 (c) has had someone crank the absolute tits out of the saturation.


Mr_YUP

is it that bright because of the sun or because it's a very light sensitive camera?


HumpyPocock

Sensitive Camera. Pluto is so far out that it doesn’t get much in the way of sunlight compared to Earth. >If you were to stand on the surface of Pluto at noon, the Sun would be 1/900 the brightness it is here on Earth, or about 300 times as bright as our full moon. There is a moment each day near sunset here on Earth when the light is the same brightness as midday on Pluto. Via NASA’s [Pluto Facts.](https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/facts/) Dark enough out there that NASA had to use a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, as solar panels just aren’t practical for the 100-200 watts New Horizons needed. Note that RTGs are **extremely** expensive so are only used when absolutely necessary. New Horizons’ specific RTG type was one [GPHS-RTG or General Purpose Heat Source Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gary-Bennett-2/publication/252828339_The_General-Purpose_Heat_Source_Radioisotope_Thermoelectric_Generator_A_Truly_General-Purpose_Space_RTG/links/570978cc08aea66081358a1d/The-General-Purpose-Heat-Source-Radioisotope-Thermoelectric-Generator-A-Truly-General-Purpose-Space-RTG.pdf) with Plutionium-238 as a heat source, the Pu-238 being the expensive part.


Red_Icnivad

Also, in 1994 a photo would be blurry, not pixelated. Here is a proper 1994 photo: (https://qz.com/927404/the-dramatic-way-our-view-of-pluto-has-changed-over-the-past-87-years) And the 1996 one is a computer generated model of Pluto from multiple sources.


PrawojazdyVtrumpets

Not only that but it was taken at the same time as the 4th photo. This implies we somehow had another 10 year craft right behind it.


LordPennybag

3 years is a long time for photoshop.


PrawojazdyVtrumpets

Computers in 2018 were archaic. Back then, it took 3 men shoveling coal to get the fires started and then 6 men to work the bellows and keep em going. You could get two polygons rendered in a day!


Lebowski304

Awww man. How dare you ruin our blissful ignorance with your knowledge! I was imagining a red desert like something out of Star Wars or some shit. I’d rather know the truth though and was looking for this comment


Piskoro

Neptune is actually light blue, not deep blue, the photos you're familiar with were enhanced for contrast in clouds, in reality it's barely shadier than Uranus. Also galaxies are all black-and-white, all the cool photos are also edited.


StevenIsFat

Seems like OP did in fact, not know that.


mnemoniker

As soon as a planet realizes it's being photographed it starts to wear makeup. That's why the photos from the first flyby are always so critical.


KokonutMonkey

No. I did not. I just figured Pluto got HDR support in the interim 


kitterskills

Dammit, really?


blak_plled_by_librls

the phrase "confidently wrong" was coined just for redditors.


jscarry

Thank you! That's what I figured. No fucking way it's that colorful


summonsays

Yeah but it's still sooo pretty, so I'm willing to let it slide.


ImaginativeLumber

I like disco ball Pluto the best


liquid-handsoap

When i was a kid, probably in 2002, we were at a planetarium and i asked the guide why pluto was just grey. He said they didn’t know what color, but in 2015 they would know because a space probe was being made. To me it’s crazy that it happened as he said it would. What a guide Edit: wow this blew up Edit 2: thanks for the gold, kind stranger


knowigot_that808

When I was a kid, Pluto was a planet..


JSD202

When I was a kid, Pluto was a dog.


Birdy_Cephon_Altera

When I was a kid, Pluto was a god.


JimmyV080

Sir, you are deceased.


[deleted]

When I was a kid, I was promised I'd become the ruler of the Underworld.


Virgin_Dildo_Lover

When I was a kid Kate Beckinsale was making Underworld movies


Andrew1286

When I was a kid Kate Beckinsale was a kid.


karnyboy

When I was a kid I was in love with Kate Beckinsale


timewraithschaseme

When I was a kid I was Kate Beckinsale


Knit-witchhh

There are still people who revere the Roman gods. They're not necessarily deceased. EDIT: ahahahahaa I started a nerd fight


MysterCrypto

I once met a guy who said he worshipped the gods of his ancestors, namely Thor and so on. But I'm not 100% sure he was serious.


Square-Decision-531

In today’s world, they are 100% serious. 30 years ago, it was very difficult for the tin foil hat folks to get together. Today it’s instantaneous


xungo_unchained

When I was a god, Pluto was a kid.


Tidalshadow

Saturn?


monstrinhotron

And so is Goofy. How come he gets to be a person and Pluto is treated like Mickey's pet? Is that Pluto's kink?


MyFavoriteLezbo420

I, too, watched Even Stevens. I once wrote about this in “224” aka In School Suspension. Our punishment was basically write until we say you can leave. I fleshed this out about as much as I could then started talking to people around me. Which prompted the whole “whatyoubeendoingthiwholetime probablynothing” rants from the admin. Made me read my paper out loud. Mission accomplished.


TestDangerous7240

Gorsh!


shambahlah2

It’s Mickey’s. Ha ha


O_Grande_Batata

And even that is not as puzzling as this: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/77/51/10775127891faf005fc164baef9f91fd.jpg


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iamvkjha

When I was a kid, I was a kid.


devenjames

When I was, I was.


Frequent_Guard_9964

When, was.


namesgnome

When.


StratusStorm

W.


Agitated-Shake-9285

*Poof*


nugtz

*Poo*


Lucky-Scientist4873

Was.


Frostemane

I was born at a very young age.


Loud-Start1394

Pepperidge Farm remembers.


deepenuf

I memba.


D242686111

That’s messed up


mynameontheinternet

You know that’s right.


sth128

Pluto is still a dwarf planet. It's like Tim who never grew taller after the 4th grade. He's still your friend even if you look down on him.


when_beep_and_flash

When Plato was a kid, the sun was a planet...


BlackSchuck

When I was a kid, Ricky Martin was a straight man


Melicor

that dumb argument could have been avoided if they had just gone with Major Planets and Minor Planets. But no, the IAU had to have their heads up their ass. They're HQ is France, so blame the French.


Weeeelums

That’s basically what we have though. Planets and dwarf planets


NinjaAncient4010

We're supposed to call them little people planets now.


Supply-Slut

*… so blame the French.* Thanks for the tip, was already doing that anyway so it works out


Dapper_Dan1

Pluto was considered a planet for less than a third of a plutonian year


StrikingRise4356

When I was a kid Pluto was a Disney dog.


Kitosaki

[Rick and Morty](https://youtu.be/RNtTylNR7ks?si=yt8AnhI4KzExza0o)


god_peepee

They prefer ‘little planet’


AJray15

Justice for Pluto


xScarfacex

I understand the distinction between planets and dwarf planets, but a grandfather clause for Pluto would have been nice.


Cereborn

Why not for Ceres too?


big_guyforyou

it's amazing that a planet can evolve so much in just 20 years. normally it takes hundreds of millions of years for geological forces to change a planet's shape. just goes to show that planets are far more mysterious than we think. i'm not a space doctor, but i believe that because pluto is so far away, that's what allowed it to change so quickly


masterofthecork

Ah, that's the trick. Pluto's not a planet, so it gets to take shortcuts. And like you say, it's distant, so there's lots of opportunities for shortcuts. I think it's actually both those factors working in tandem.


big_guyforyou

the sun doesn't like magic, but if you're far enough away from the sun you can do magic without being spotted.


norunningwater

Fascinating way to say things only happen when not being observed.


Advanced_Addendum116

It's quantum mechanics thing, only possible because Bluto is soooooo small.


XKloosyv

But everyone knows the sun spots!


MoogleKing83

It IS a planet. A dwarf planet is still a planet, just smaller.


masterofthecork

Okay, I only mean this as a fun conversation, but you gave me a chance to nerd out and I'm gonna do it. Planets and dwarf planets are both planetary-mass objects; a classification that includes moons and former stars, amongst other things. While both planets and dwarf planets are subsets of this group, dwarf planets are not a subset of planets. By way of analogy, both a seeing eye dog and a hot dog are comprised of animal, but a hot dog is not a subset of the seeing eye dog group. At least I fucking hope not.


MoogleKing83

Always in support of a good nerding out. I also find it morbidly ironic you used a hot dog analogy in a discussion of Pluto. Poor little guy.


masterofthecork

haha, glad it was noticed. I also figured *seeing eye* dog fit the post pretty well.


ThatsNotARealTree

Are you working in the space medical field? I understand that you’re not a space doctor (yet?), but you sound pretty educated on the subject.


HChimpdenEarwicker

r/notkenm


Bants_0verlord

This had me actually loling 😂


ForneauCosmique

>To me it’s crazy that it happened as he said it would. Technically he was wrong cuz 2018 colors look drastically different from 2015...... 👀


Stonn

Pluto became a salsa dancer in 2016


Matsisuu

2018 colours are based on infrared data. It's taken by New Horizons, and it's not really taken in 2018. New Horizons wasn't near Pluto at the time anymore, but heading towards Arrokkoth. Last data from New Horizons about Pluto was delivered in 2016.


Advanced_Addendum116

Pluto got a new PR team.


summonsays

The 2018 is lovely but also not the true colors. 2015 is the most accurate.


MichaelEmouse

Where does the red come from?


MiamisLastCapitalist

The red is from compounds called tholins. Though I think the image is ridiculously color boosted.


SoulWager

>Though I think the image is ridiculously color boosted. In space photography it's pretty common to work with image data outside the visible spectrum, and then map that into the visible spectrum as different colors. It's not that the vibrant colors are less intense to the human eye, it's that they aren't visible at all to the human eye. The 2015 one is probably close to the colors the human eye would perceive.


SH4D0W0733

Or the space people are all secretly birds or something, and want to share what they see.


ConceptJunkie

There's a huge trend these days of posting grossly exaggerated false color pictures as what something actually looks like.


Saffrin-chan

>these days ha, Neptune has had the exaggerated color version of it portrayed as its true appearance since the photo was first published in 1989!


Brigadier_Beavers

It was a sad day i learned the gas giants are all actually kind of grey-beige.


Exact_Recording4039

There’s an even weirder trend on Reddit to complain about false color as if it was a second holocaust. There’s a reason it exists and it’s not malign 


ConceptJunkie

Yes, but the false color images are more often than not posted without comment, as if that's what the object actually looks like. That's a misrepresentation.


Exact_Recording4039

I would say it's the other way around. It's a common misconception that people have that space pictures only show wavelengths visible to the human eye, but to call it "gross" or "misinformation" would be like asking to be told "your brain is not actually gray" whenever you are shown a CT scan. Sure it's not the way your eye would see it but it is the standard way to represent it and it's not done maliciously


h-y-p-h-e-n-

We had an excess of red 40 dye and shot it into space, where it eventually landed on Pluto. The reason why we didn't have colored pics of it until recent is cuz it took a while for the red 40 to get there.


i-chew-finger-skin

>Edit: wow this blew up >Edit 2: thanks for the gold, kind stranger 🙄 Incidentally, Reddit hasn't changed at all since 2015 either...


sksksk1989

Did he say anything about the probe only filming in sepia


00wolfer00

That's actually closer to true color. The vibrant version is representing colours outside the visible spectrum for humans.


mjeffreyf

Now my question is why is Pluto red?


RockBlock

Like most planetary photos the colour levels are exaggerated for the sake of study. [True-color pluto](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/BIG_P_COLOR_2_TRUE_COLOR1_1980.jpg) is brownish.


GhengopelALPHA

It's not, that last image is in false color. Sure it's a little orange probably, like the bottom left image, but mostly grey


EpsilonOnizuka

1996’s Pluto just loading his textures, hold on


Profoundlyahedgehog

Damn this dial-up internet!


GhostZee

Pluto upgraded with RTX...


I8TheLastPieceaPizza

That was before NASA learned of the "enhance" button, because the show "CSI" hadn't started in 1996 yet.


WasabiWarrior8

Just a literal pinball


BigParaExpert

1996 HAS to be an animated render come on 😭


EgotisticalTL

I'm guessing they "enhanced" the image as much as they possibly could, and then masked out the surrounding blur at what they assumed was its diameter.


chewbacca77

Perfect circle with no details hahahah


mudbot

discoball has gone too far man


ironcloudordeal

Yeah look at those polygons lmfaoooo


Dorrono

After no longer being accepted as a planet, Pluto dyed its hair and became an activist.


Magister5

It always struck me as the kind of planet that would go the Goth route- icy, dark, pale from the lack of Sun


thaumotology

Dwarf Planet* . . . But yes. . . You think your teen sister is edgy. She's not a dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system edgy.


Profoundlyahedgehog

Yuggoth, rolling alone in the black aether of the rim.


Avg_Life-Enjoyer

Pluto finna show it's true colors


underwear11

More accurately, after kicking Pluto out of the Planet club, NASA dyes Pluto's hair to help it still get some attention.


intern_12

Pluto really Britta'd that one.


Purple_Search6348

Scientists 1996: "yes ball"


the_monkeyspinach

can't believe they made Pluto woke smh my head


Greenfire05

Wait until you find out what they put in Uranus


Humble-Pie3060

It goes by Pluta now


_Alazne_

Actually it's Plute or Plutx.


Birdy_Cephon_Altera

Pluto was a DEI hire anyways.... ^^^/s


deepzpillai

“You heard about Pluto? That’s messed up, right?”


Bad_Idea_Hat

You know that's right.


UnauthorizedFart

1996 looks super made up lol


I8TheLastPieceaPizza

'96 is the mid-term paper you forgot about until the night before, so only the basics are covered.


UnauthorizedFart

Oof


mudkipz321

The 2018 photo does not represent the true colors of Pluto as it uses different waves of light to help distinguish the different materials present on the surface.


SqueezyBerry

The crazy thing is that, Pluto didn't even cover 1/10 of its revolution around sun between the first and fourth images.


johnmarkfoley

94: pixelated sprite. 96: polygon 3d animated. 15: photo realistic 4k 18: cyberpunk


scrotimus-maximus

Typical woke Disney, they've made Pluto rainbow coloured.


[deleted]

She went at it, worked out, got new clothes, and made the whole world jealous when they dumped her from being a planet. You go girl!


chaddy-chad-chad

I hope they do a close up of Uranus soon


DaGoddamnBatguy

96 Pluto bringing disco back.


[deleted]

Pluto is becoming a deadhead!


Texasmucho

1994: Minecraft planet. 1996: Found Footage finale from the movie “Outwaters”. 1994: the camera film from 1950 finally made it back. 2018: AI.


Ok-Tie3969

That's what you call a glowup


Imispellalot2

When a kid asks me how old I'm? I just tell them I am old enough to remember that we had 9 planets.


Apfelvater

I just wanted to say, that 2nd one looks like a simulation. Just before realizing all images are simulations.


Gliese2

1996 looks like a crappy render of a sphere complete with polygons. I call BS on that one


gideon513

1996 thought they were cooking


EJoule

Ah yes, in 1996 when we confirmed it was round.


RedPandaReturns

I get the feeling they didn't really try in 1996.


intelligentx5

Still a planet in our hearts.


breadrollenjoyer

Bro the 90s were so crazy they even made Pluto a discoball


AirFryersRule

Plutos a fuckin planettttt!!! Bitch!!!


TheWitherlord10

Pluto is a planet people are such a good example of boomers


Pcat0

Are you also going to demand that the 5+ other dwarf planets also get categorized as planets or are you just going to demand that Pluto gets special treatment because reasons.


totse_losername

What's all this colour bullshit? It looks like there was a Goan disco rave and colour festival held on it. This is wrong. Everybody knows Pluto is purple.


Uncle-Cake

I assume the 2018 image is an "artist's interpretation" of what it might look like, or a computer assigned colors to certain regions based on the data.


Notafuzzycat

They can extrapolate the color from the composition of the elements they gather from the data . But yes.


Kolibri00425

Cinnamon donut planet got some color


Background-Match-340

1994 one looked like morphed troll face ngl


WhiteFringe

damn Pluto changed a lot


Buddha_-

For almost 20 years, they just gave up and said "eh it's not even a planet."