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Personally, I have a very hard time believing that a study in unrealistic conditions, using people who have not learned to see, can accurately measure the limits possible for a person who has developed those skills.

Learning to see is a major part of becoming a skilled observer.

Expecting to know what is possible by studying a large group of people who have not learned to see is like trying to take a group of people who have never touched a basketball and having them try to shoot shots from half court to see if it is possible for a person to make shots from that distance. You don't measure what is possible by taking the average. You measure what is possible by studying the people who are exceptional in that endeaver. Have the same tests done with a large group of skilled observers under conditions that match what is found in nature, and see what the results are. Until then these tests results are questionable at best.

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While I would tend to agree to some extent, I think that the variable sensitivity of color vision from one person to the next is a large factor in seeing fainter colors like the faint reddish hues in M42. What might be needed to satisfy the gentleman who keeps raising objections to claims using mainly various paper sources is verification done on some of these people, and tests using very faint emission-line or narrow-band light sources of the the intensities and scales similar to that seen with large telescopes. However, from speaking with professionals who have on occasion used *very* large telescopes on objects such as M42, they also report seeing several distinct colors (including reddish hues). At our last club meeting, I was speaking to Dr. Martin Gaskell (McDonald Observatory in Texas), and he related a couple of stories about people who were observing impressive coloration when moving a large observatory scope to target a particular portion of the nebula for study with one of the instruments. I think that there is more than enough evidence that at least some people can indeed see some pinkish or reddish hues in M42 if enough aperture is used. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info

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