Why are other stars' composition determined by the "color" of their light, while the sun has "white light"?

Question

wouldn't the sun's light also be characteristic of the elements it is made of?

Answer 1

We know what the sun is made of by passing it's light through a spectrograph to separate out all the colors that, when all combined, just look white. The sun emits all colors, but not all equally. But at the temperature of the sun, the combination looks white. Hotter stars have more blue light and look bluish-white and cooler stars emit less blue light, so they look reddish, but we still need a spectrograph to separate out each color to tell what those other stars are made of.

Answer 2

Each stars' composition is determined by the light that is viewed through a spectroscope that divides the light into a spectrum. This spectrum has lines going through certain elements to tell which elements are making up the star. Also, the colors show a shift toward the red or blue (doppler shift) depending on whether the star is approaching us (blue) or moving away (red). Also, our sun emits yellow light.

Answer 3

white light is comprised of all colors in the spectrum. when white light hits a red object, red light is reflected and the rest, absorbed. also, the elements it is composed of also contribute to it's color. take fireworks for example, they add copper for one color, aluminum for another.

Answer 4

I know with meteors it depends on what they're made up of. Copper has a green glow, for example. I assume everything glows a certain color based on what it's comprised of.

Answer 5

stars have color because or their temperatures. this is called black body. the sun has a temperature of 5780 kelvins so it is yellow (spectral class G2). absorption lines of the chemical composition of the sun are superimposed on its black body radiation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung-Russell_diagram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun