Teaching article
Space-image colour can represent processed information
Read image captions before interpreting colour as human-eye appearance.
Some official images use colour to communicate selected data rather than ordinary human-eye appearance. Keep the processing caption with the picture and ask what each colour is intended to show in this particular example.
A processed image can use colour to show selected data.
The caption explains how to read the image
Keep the processing caption visible whenever the image is displayed. Readers need that context to interpret what a colour difference represents.
Read the image note. Identify what colour encodes. Write an accurate caption.
What does this caption establish? Compare the caption and image together.
Not every image is an ordinary camera view.
Resources
- Solar System Planet Order — Use the sequence cards and add a note that spacing is not a distance scale.
Further reading
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