  Bold colour images from telescopes act as extraordinary ambassadors for
research astronomers because they pique the public's curiosity. But are they
snapshots documenting physical reality? Or are we looking at artistic
spacescapes created by digitally manipulating astronomy images? This paper
provides a tour of how original black and white data, from all regimes of the
electromagnetic spectrum, are converted into the colour images gracing popular
magazines, numerous websites, and even clothing. The history and method of the
technical construction of these images is outlined. However, the paper focuses
on introducing the scientific reader to visual literacy (e.g.human perception)
and techniques from art (e.g. composition, colour theory) since these
techniques can produce not only striking but politically powerful public
outreach images. When created by research astronomers, the cultures of science
and visual art can be balanced and the image can illuminate scientific results
sufficiently strongly that the images are also used in research publications.
Included are reflections on how they could feedback into astronomy research
endeavours and future forms of visualization as well as on the relevance of
outreach images to visual art.
