The Sun is Green but Our Eyes Lie

Wait, WHAT? The sun is…green?

According to this interesting article, the light waves emitted by our sun should appear green to our eyes.

The mix-up occurs between the sun’s peak intensity and how our brains interpret the full mix of light wavelengths that enter our eyes. The sun doesn’t only emit green light, but green is the peak wavelength. Because there are other colors involved, our eyes make a dramatic shift in interpretation.

Normally we would see all the colors combined as white but our atmosphere plays a role that changes it to yellow. When sunlight hits the gas molecules in our atmosphere the shorter wavelengths are scattered (blue and violet). The longer wavelengths pass through (red, yellow, and orange).

As a side gig, this is what makes the sky look blue on Earth. Perhaps different atmospheres on other worlds would present a different color even if the sun was the same as ours.

But in outer space where no atmosphere exists the sun appears white.

We take a lot for granted in our everyday lives, including what we can see, but at the end of the day there are varying factors involved. Even the raw images published from the James Webb telescope are processed from nearly all black to black-and-white, and then colorized.

What are your thoughts on the true colors of everyday objects? Please comment below.