false colour

English

This false-colour image of Saturn helps highlight its climatic regions and its rings for the human eye.

Alternative forms

• false color, false-color, false-colour
• false colouring

Noun

false colour (plural false colours)

1. (of an image; especially attributively) Having colours that are different from those of reality, especially such that the colours used correspond to some physical or spectral significance (e.g. representing temperature, wavelength, species of microbe, or other meaning).

   A false-colour image from a microscope helps highlight the variety of microbial species present in a single sample of soil.

   The temperature gradient is shown here in false colour for convenience.

Related terms

• colour code