--- a/NEWS	Sat Jan 03 09:52:07 2015 -0800
+++ b/NEWS	Mon Dec 29 18:26:12 2014 +0000
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@
  ** Other new functions added in 4.2:
 
       bandwidth
+      cubehelix
       dir_in_loadpath
       flip
       frame2im

--- a/doc/interpreter/image.txi	Sat Jan 03 09:52:07 2015 -0800
+++ b/doc/interpreter/image.txi	Mon Dec 29 18:26:12 2014 +0000
@@ -164,6 +164,8 @@
 
 @DOCSTRING(copper)
 
+@DOCSTRING(cubehelix)
+
 @DOCSTRING(flag)
 
 @DOCSTRING(gray)

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/scripts/image/cubehelix.m	Mon Dec 29 18:26:12 2014 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+## Copyright (C) 2014 Carnë Draug
+##
+## This file is part of Octave.
+##
+## Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+## under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+## the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+## your option) any later version.
+##
+## Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+## WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+## General Public License for more details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+## along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+## -*- texinfo -*-
+## @deftypefn  {Function File} {@var{map} =} cubehelix ()
+## @deftypefnx {Function File} {@var{map} =} cubehelix (@var{n})
+## Create cubehelix colormap.
+##
+## This colormap varies from black to white going though blue, green, and red
+## tones while maintaining a monotonically increasing perception of intensity.
+## This is achieved by transversing a color cube from black to white through
+## a helix, hence the name cubehelix, while taking into account the perceived
+## brightness of each channel according to the NTSC specifications from 1953.
+##
+## @example
+## rgbplot (cubehelix (256))
+## @end example
+##
+## The argument @var{n} must be a scalar and corresponds to the lenght of the
+## colormap.  Defaults to the length of the current colormap.
+##
+## Development of this colormap is described in @cite{Green, D. A., 2011,
+## "A colour scheme for the display of astronomical intensity images",
+## Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India, 39, 289.}.
+##
+## @seealso{colormap}
+## @end deftypefn
+
+## Author: Carnë Draug <carandraug@octave.org>
+
+## PKG_ADD: colormap ("register", "cubehelix");
+## PKG_DEL: colormap ("unregister", "cubehelix");
+
+function map = cubehelix (n = rows (colormap ()), start = 0.5,
+                          rots = -1.5, hue = 1, gamma = 1)
+
+  if (nargin > 5)
+    print_usage ()
+  endif
+
+  if (! isscalar (n) || n < 1)
+    error ("cubehelix: N must be a positive scalar");
+  endif
+
+  coeff = [ -0.14861  -0.29227   1.97294
+             1.78277  -0.90649   0.00000];
+
+  fract = ((0:n-1) / (n-1))';
+  angle = 2 * pi * (start/3 + 1 + rots*fract);
+  fract = fract .^ gamma;
+  amp   = hue * fract .* (1-fract) /2;
+  warning ("off", "Octave:broadcast", "local");
+  map   = fract + amp .* ([cos(angle) sin(angle)] * coeff);
+
+  ## Clip values (only in case users have changed values of hue or gamma)
+  map(map < 0) = 0;
+  map(map > 1) = 1;
+
+endfunction
+
+%!demo
+%! subplot (1, 2, 1)
+%! rgbplot (cubehelix (256), "composite")
+%! subplot (1, 2, 2)
+%! rgbplot (cubehelix (256))
+