How we make images of space and other planets always reminds me of the contingency of our own visual systems. We see these wavelengths but not those. We see this much light, but not that much. And we see, almost always, in the light on Earth. These things seem like constants built into the fabric of reality, but that is only because we are humans on Earth. Animals don’t see precisely like us and neither do our robots. So when we see images from Hubble that are obviously false-colored, should we complain because “that’s not how a human would see it?” Or should be just give in to the glorious subjectivity of visual experience?

Why Are There *Blue* Rocks in the Latest Photos From Mars? - Alexis Madrigal - The Atlantic (via photographsonthebrain)

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(via photographsonthebrain)