Why is the Sun always concepted as yellow or orange?
In: Physics
So our atmosphere actually causes the sun to appear slightly yellow. The original color is pure white, as it emits every lightwave possible. It’s concepted as yellow because that’s simply a recognizable depiction of the sun.
It’s actually white I think but our eyes can’t see that bright of a shade. So it defaults to yellow.
Ever seen a bright yellow so bright it is almost blinding?
Our sun’s spectrum tends toward green but our atmosphere diffracts some of the blue, leaving a yellow tendency and a blue sky.
It’s because our eyes see differences in colour. Because the sky appears blue, the white sun is perceived as being less blue, i.e., more yellow.
From a photographer’s perspective, the correct colour temperature to use in daylight is around 6500 K while the sun is only 5900 K. In other words, the light we see on a sunny day is hotter (bluer) than the sun and that’s because of the blue sky. Our eyes adapt to this quality of light and then the sun is relatively cooler and so looks a little yellow.
Latest Answers