Learn what color the Sun is and why it appears different colors from Space, the Earth, and in photographs. The Sun would have to emit only green light for our eyes to perceive it as green. This means the actual colour of the Sun is white.
So, why does it generally look yellow? This is because the Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light more efficiently than red light. The sun is white-kind of. It depends on your interpretation of color, the way colors work, the way our eyes see and, just as importantly, the air we see through.
The color of the sun reveals a range of information about our star including the stages of its life and how it interacts with the atmosphere of Earth. The color of the sun is dependent on a number of factors, such as the sun's surface temperature, Earth's atmosphere, and how the human eye sees color. Think the Sun is yellow? Think again.
Discover the true color of our star and why it looks so different from Earth's surface. Sunglight is composed of colors from violet to red (abbreviated as VIBGYOR). Violet has the lowest wavelength and red has the highest wavelength.
Combinedly, this forms a white color, which is the net color of the Sun. Many people imagine the sun as yellow or orange, often depicted that way in art and media. However, the sun's actual color is white when viewed from space, without Earth's atmospheric interference.
This discrepancy between its true and perceived color results from scientific principles. Understanding these phenomena clarifies why our star looks different depending on the observation point. Unveil the true color of the Sun-hint, it's not yellow! Learn how atmospheric scattering and historical misconceptions have led us astray.
The sun, the star at the center of our solar system, is often perceived as yellow due to the way our atmosphere scatters its light. However, the actual color of the sun is more complex than it appears.