Is it yellow because from Earth it usually looks yellow to us? Or is it white because the sun gives off all wavelengths of light (white light)? Or is it some other color?
In: Planetary Science
Every star has an average peak wavelength which we can say is it’s “color”. Every star also emits a broad range of energy (light) across many wavelengths.
The sun’s peak is in 480-500nm range which is blueish-greenish. But that is peak! On Earth, we perceive this color as yellowish as it is filtered through our Nitrogen atmosphere and makes the sky look blue! (yellow+blue=green as every child knows)
But because it emits many spectra, we see it as white with our eyes. It also glows in the infrared and ultraviolet (which we cant see). It glows in XRays and microwaves and many other ranges we cant see without instruments.
In astronomy, stars are classified by their peak because that indicates mass and many other derived factors like age too.
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