The common perception that the Sun is yellow, orange, or even red is mainly due to how its light behaves as it passes through Earth's atmosphere, and the way our cultural and artistic norms depict it. In reality, the Sun is essentially a mixture of all colors of light, which, when combined, appear white to the human eye. This is evident when the Sun is observed from space, where it distinctly shows as a pure white star.
The misconception starts with the solar light’s interaction with Earth's atmosphere. As sunlight enters our atmosphere, it encounters particles and gases that scatter shorter wavelength colors, like blue and violet, more than the longer wavelengths such as red and orange. This scattering effect is responsible for the blue sky during the day. At sunrise and sunset, the Sun's light passes through a thicker slice of the atmosphere, where even more blue and violet light is scattered out of the direct path between the Sun and the observer, giving the Sun itself a more reddish or orange hue when viewed low on the horizon.
These atmospheric effects significantly color our perception but do not change the fact that the Sun itself is a white star. If viewed outside our atmosphere, as astronauts do from space, there is no atmosphere to scatter the sunlight, and the Sun’s true color is revealed. This white color is due to the Sun emitting light across a wide spectrum of colors in roughly equal measure, which blends to create what we perceive as white light.
Understanding the true color of the Sun not only enhances our grasp of basic astronomical concepts but also provides insight into the sun’s temperatures and the physics of light. The Sun’s surface temperature is around 5,500 degrees Celsius, and according of black-body radiation principles, this emits light that peaks in the green to yellow-green range of the spectrum, and combines with other colors to produce the white appearance.
In conclusion, while our experiences on Earth and cultural representations do portray the Sun as yellow or even red, its true color is white, reflecting the broad and balanced spectrum of light it emits. This understanding allows for a deeper appreciation of the complexities of both our nearest star and the intricate way in its interaction with our planet's protective atmosphere.
