A conventional color camera summarizes light in a few broad channels. Hyperspectral imaging separates it into many narrow, adjacent bands. Each pixel contains a sequence of measurements across wavelengths. The result is often called a data cube: two image dimensions and a spectral dimension.
Materials absorb and reflect light differently. Comparing measured spectra with known signatures can reveal vegetation, minerals or gases under suitable conditions. JPL’s airborne AVIRIS instruments demonstrate imaging spectroscopy, with later systems supporting methane-emission mapping. Bright colors in processed images may represent measurements invisible to human eyes.
Interpretation depends on illumination, atmosphere, calibration and mixtures within a pixel. This is not a camera that identifies every substance with certainty or sees through every obstacle. AI helps process the data, while remote sensing supplies the broader context. For unusual observations, spectral measurements add information beyond the shape and visible color available in ordinary video.