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National Geographic : 1982 Nov
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RTISTRY WITH HEAT: Computer technicians at Inframetrics, Inc., in Bedford, Massachusetts, based their palette of colors on temperature differences with in a 10°C (18°F) range-assigning a specific color to each degree of heat. The computer worked from black-and white infrared images recorded on a videotape as the shuttle touched down. The tape recorded both reflected and emit ted heat-the warmth of the sun and the desert runway and the burn of a jet engine as the T-38 chase plane (below and bottom) darted away. Hotter temperatures appear in tradi tional hot colors (left and bottom)-orange, violet, and white. Cooler areas appear in black, blue, and green. Use ful in such fields as thermal design and architecture, ther mography does not replace the shuttle's on-board sensors, since thermograms such as these do not take into account variables created by differing surfaces and refraction from curved areas. They do give us expressionistic views of an exciting moment. Q BY CLIFF TARPY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICEDITORIAL STAFF HeatPaints Columbia'sPortrait 653
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