Pretty pictures in Astronomy! The competition for media representation is getting tougher

Big data in astronomy is the result of systematically collecting and using data created with new methods of digital imagery capture. Complex image processing systems can create impressive astronomical images with a high level of information density. Over time, these images have increasingly left the field of the science community and found a place in popular mass media. In addition to their original epistemic function, it has become evident that these fascinating images, with their unusual perspectives, can command the attention of a broader audience. In original images, we can find many nontrivial structures of scientific relevance. It is not uncommon, however, for them to be greatly modified, and subsequently simplified, in the PR departments of research centers who reason that, this provides "better comprehensibility". The aim is to adhere to the viewing behaviours and preconceived ideas of its audience. In times of scarce research budgets, these "pretty pictures" are often presented to an amazed lay audience in order to legitimise scientific research work. The analysis of these images reveals an excessive use of false colour representations, contrastw enhancements and questionable contextualisation that can mislead the untrained eye. In order to meet the basic rules of media ethics, there is more than ever, a need to communicate the hidden imaging processes found in publications with more clarity and to greater distance themselves from purely illustrative and unscientific images with photorealistic effects.