Colour Blind

Yes, despite the rather colourful images seen around the Web, the pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are in fact in black and white. The electronic detectors record the light from the Universe in shades of black and white, the colour is then added later.

This is not to say that there is no scientific basis for the colouring, rather that it is used to enhance features of an object that we might otherwise miss and bring out subtle detail, as well as giving an indication of how the object would appear if our eyes were on a par with Hubble.