DIY Instruments for Amateur Space

Chapter 6. Colors and Brightness

Most people, when you say sensor or detector, think “camera.” A camera is actually an imaging detector (takes a 2-D or 3-D picture) that has some specific photometric accuracy (ability to capture different levels of brightness) as well as having a spectral resolution range—capturing a specific range of colors (either monochrome or full color).

Both color and brightness are very important. In Figure 6-1, we are looking at a 1,000km×1,000km area of Seldovia, Alaska using Landsat data at 30 meters per pixel resolution, so it is a very high-resolution image. In color with full brightness levels, you can clearly see the land, water, ice, and mountains.

Figure 6-1. Seldovia, AK at high spatial resolution, high color resolution, ...