I like the article’s title much better - “What Color Is the Sun?” because, as the article says, there is no simple answer.
And color, anyway, at least in the way most people mean, isn’t an absolute property of objects, but a changing mix of the properties of what produces the light, what reflects the light, any intervening medium that might scatter or absorb the light between the emitter and the reflector, then also the way our eyes perceive light (in a very limited visible range, with variable sensitivity depending on brightness and the cells in our retina) and the way our brains interpret it.
And even the way our languages divvy the smooth visible spectrum up into discrete color blocks (e.g. we arbitrarily agree where the cutoff is between blue and green, but that’s socially constructed and differs between cultures.)
Just look at the “are tennis balls green or yellow” and “is this dress blue and silver or white and gold” arguments.
Anyway, though. I enjoyed reading the article! Thanks for posting 👍
I like the article’s title much better - “What Color Is the Sun?” because, as the article says, there is no simple answer.
And color, anyway, at least in the way most people mean, isn’t an absolute property of objects, but a changing mix of the properties of what produces the light, what reflects the light, any intervening medium that might scatter or absorb the light between the emitter and the reflector, then also the way our eyes perceive light (in a very limited visible range, with variable sensitivity depending on brightness and the cells in our retina) and the way our brains interpret it.
And even the way our languages divvy the smooth visible spectrum up into discrete color blocks (e.g. we arbitrarily agree where the cutoff is between blue and green, but that’s socially constructed and differs between cultures.)
Just look at the “are tennis balls green or yellow” and “is this dress blue and silver or white and gold” arguments.
Anyway, though. I enjoyed reading the article! Thanks for posting 👍
And to add (an obvious and pendantic add), this is also assuming under human vision!
Who knows what mantis shrimp would see the sun as!