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1  7:04pm 23/10/04        
<b>Taj Daemun<br><i>Worship Me</b></i>
What cuases color in space?
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2  8:29pm 23/10/04        
Return of the King of the Cafe!
...I'm guessing light?
3  8:43pm 23/10/04        
<b>Taj Daemun<br><i>Worship Me</b></i>
light cuases color on earth when refracted through particles in the atmosphere....
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4  9:01pm 23/10/04        
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D2K Style
The same thing that cause color on Earth, a frequency of light being reflected.
Well okay, you can vote for Bush, but if I go to war it's on your head.
5  9:11pm 23/10/04        
friend of the sleeping pill
Sober today.

Not being an expert in science I can explain it only as best I know how. Light is basically electromagnetic radiation. And like (I think) all radiation, the electromagnetic variety comes in various wavelengths. When the wavelength is within what I believe is a very narrow range our eyes absorb it and spew it into our little chicken heads as light.

Depending on the wavelength the radiation travels at, various colors result. And certain objects reflect and absorb different wavelengths of color. A red sheet of paper absorbs all radiation but the specific set of wavelengths that represent red. A white sheet of paper reflects all wavelengths. Etc, etc.

But as far as I understand it the absorption and interpretation of this radiation of this radiation by our eyes is a purely subjective and evolutionary thing. Meaning that what you think is red isn't actually red, it's just the human brain's way of construing X wavelength. The eye is just a very complex machine that does its job a certain way. But on another planet red might be seen as purple. Or no color at all that we can recognize. Which of course is another reason why science fiction in general is bullshit.

In fact the spectrum in general, the set of wavelengths we see as "light" are again totally subjective. We can't see any electromagnetic radiation outside of that little area, meaning that what you think is dark and light isn't actually dark and light, it's just what you see as dark and light. I believe that most objects that give off "light" -- stars particularly -- also give off many other wavelengths of light that we just can't see. A planet totally dark to us might be totally bright to an alien. Another species that saw in an entirely different set of wavelengths might perceive our entire planet as nothing but blackness but see all sorts of vibrant colors in the deepest oceans of the earth. Etc etc. In fact some species might not see in electromagnetic radiation at all, but some other form of radiation. I don't know much more than that and at this point I'm just going in assumptions.

But there you go. Amazing what happens when you let the drugs wear off.
6  11:43pm 23/10/04        
Blink If You Can Hear Me
Gash is pretty much right. The lights you see at night are the same color they are in space... they aren't really all that distorted by our atmosphere.

The eye is a selective thing... people who are color blind are very rarely actually color blind, they just see the colors differently then others. It's not really an impediment... it just makes them different.

Gash's point about being on another planet and seeing red as purple... well, no. Different species, yes, but we have different species on Earth that see colors very differently. Our eyes will basically always see colors the same way... on this planet or any other... barring eye tramua or brain injury.

Light... is like Gash said again electomagnetic radiation. It's caused by the breakup of atomic bonds... the energy that is released is in a spectrum our eyes can recognize. The bright white light coming from the sun... that's what fusion looks like to our brains. And when you see Mars, the red planet... that's just the iron dust's way of reflecting that light, like how our oceans look blue... that's how they reflect it. When the sun is down, both mars and the oceans just look black. So yeah, Gash pretty much nailed it and the same thing that causes color on Earth causes it in space.
OS: In a world of bon-bons, you are a twinkie.
Ahnk: God damn you, I am Count Chocula and you know it.
I'm not spending my anniversary night thumping my head against the wall. - Damalis, on Moderating TRF
Then tell him you want it harder, damnit! - Ahnk, on Damalis
7  12:45am 24/10/04        
<b>Taj Daemun<br><i>Worship Me</b></i>
How can that be then when you cant see stars in space becuase of the fact there is no atmosphere to refract the light by which you typically see them. When in space, you cannot see stars.
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8  12:57am 24/10/04        
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Registered Sex Offender<br><b>The TRF Staff Does Not Support Or Condone The Existence Of Ren Janggar</b>
you cant see stars in space

WTF?
9  1:52am 24/10/04        
Blink If You Can Hear Me
Hubble is in space and crazily enough, it can see stars.
OS: In a world of bon-bons, you are a twinkie.
Ahnk: God damn you, I am Count Chocula and you know it.
I'm not spending my anniversary night thumping my head against the wall. - Damalis, on Moderating TRF
Then tell him you want it harder, damnit! - Ahnk, on Damalis
10  2:03am 24/10/04        
<b>Taj Daemun<br><i>Worship Me</b></i>
heh, nm on that last point, I was misinformed long ago... just now see the error

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/apr2000/955285334.As.r.html
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