TRUE COLOR OF THE SUN

Image of the Sun. Image credit: NASA

In popular culture, the Sun is yellow. But did you know that the color of the Sun is actually white? It’s only when light from the Sun passes through the Earth’s atmosphere that in changes in color, from white, to the yellow we see here on Earth.

All stars have a color. From red dwarfs and red giants, to white and yellow stars to blue giants and supergiants. The color of a starcomes from its temperature. As photons escape the interior of a star out into space, can be emitting infrared, red, blue and ultraviolet light all at the same time. They’re even emitting X-rays and gamma rays.

If a star is cool, less than 3,500 Kelvin, its color will be red. This is because there are more red photons being emitted than any other kind of visible light. If a star is very hot, above 10,000 Kelvin, its color will be blue. Once again, because there are more blue photons streaming from a star.

The temperature of the Sun is approximately 6,000 Kelvin. The Sun, and stars like our Sun appear white. This is because we’re seeing all the different color photons coming from the Sun at the same time. When you add all those colors up, you get pure white.

The white color inside this black box is approximately the color of the Sun.

True color of the Sun

So why does the Sun appear yellow here on Earth? The atmosphere of the Earth scatters sunlight, removing the shorter wavelength light – blue and violet. Once you reduce those colors from the spectrum of light coming from the Sun, it appears more yellow. But if you could fly up and see the Sun from space, the color of the Sun would be pure white.

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