What colour is the sun?

Earth's green sun - 26th June 2023

Physicists have debated the true colour of the sun for years. Many agree that our sun's a green star that appears white. Children often draw the sun as a yellow circle with rays.

The noonday sun usually appears white, but in the evening, it can change to dark orange or bright red. When the sun's rays enter our atmosphere these colour changes happen. How humans's eyes determine the heat of extremely hot objects also determines what colours we see. NASA scientist W Dean Pesnell confirms, "it's a green star that looks white because it's too bright, and it can also appear yellow, orange or red because of how our atmosphere works."

There's an abundance of green light photons in the sun, which are responsible for producing light. However, the strength and heat of the sun is so overpowering, our retinas see it as white. But not everyone agrees with this perspective. Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel argues that since the light the Earth receives from the sun appears white, that should be considered the sun's true colour. He explained that when a red light's shined on a piece of paper, it appears red. However, when the paper's exposed to sunlight, it appears white, not green.

In addition to the scientific debate, culture and linguistics play an important role. Some languages, like Vietnamese, don't have a separate word for blue and green. The sun's represented as blood red on Japan's flag. In your language, how's the colour of the sun described?