The true color of the sun

2023-11-01 20:30:00

The sun is “white” but, seen from Earth, it appears a bit yellowish because of an optical effect that occurs when its light passes through the atmosphere. Let’s see…

In our eyes, there are cells that are sensitive to light, and they come in three “kinds,” so to speak: there are cells that respond to red light, others to green, and some to green. others to blue. However, it can happen that more than one type of cell is activated at the same time, and even that they are all activated at the same time. Our eyes then perceive white.

If we could look at the sun from a point in space, this is what would happen: the sunlight would activate all these cells in our eyes, and we would see it white.

Except that no one looks at the sun from space, except astronauts (the lucky ones!). It is on the cow floor that we see it. And there, its light must have passed through all the gases in the atmosphere. This includes the famous “ozone layer,” which removes some blue light and scatters it in all directions — that’s why the sky is blue during the day.

Ultimately, the result is that the sunlight that reaches us is a little depleted in blue, resulting in a “blend” that our eyes see as a little yellowish.

1698876099
#true #color #sun

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.