I have the sense that the ability to perceive colors in DSOs, especially in extended nebulae, differs individually. When I observed M 42 last year with a coobserver 30 years my junior and new to astronomy, I realized that he had difficulty perceiving the pink while to me the color was VERY clear. On the other hand he insisted on the center of the nebula being clearly green (as many observers do), whereas I saw it as gray with maybe just a slight greenish hue. In my 25" I can see M 20 as bi-color with the emission part in pink, and the reflection part blueish but always on the brink of switching to gray. Over the years I have come to believe that my eyes are more sensitive to red in DSOs than to other colors.
Johannes
Last edited by Atlas; January 2nd, 2013 at 10:57 AM.
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