Space images, released by NASA and other space agencies, go through rigorous “Photoshopping”, similar to magazine and billboard ads.

In a recent blog post, Adobe has shared the details of what happens in the early stages.

First, the person performing the “Photoshopping” is not an ordinary graphic designer, but is an astronomer. As this person needs to have the ability to differentiate images and interpret raw data.
Viewing vague planets and cloudy nebula requires a keen eye to erase what is not important and bring out what can not be seen by the naked eye.

Robert Hull, an astronomer from Caltec does just this. He explains the first steps, beginning with raw grayscale data:
Amp up the contrast to bring out the most interesting features.
Translate “infrared colours”, invisible to the naked eye, into colour that we can see.
Layer on photos and data from different telescopes (Hubble and Spitzer) to enhance and create the most accurate image.

The famous Mars photos captured by the Curiosity rover went through this process. Its cameras are optimized only to take photos of the landscape and can not capture the Martian skies. Someone, like Hurt, stitches and smooths the edges of the rover’s photos; then adds in the reddish sky we associate with the red planet.

From our magazines to the far away galaxies, “Photoshop” plays a major role in how we see our world.