Why does the surface of the sun, a G typse star, appear yellow?

Question

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Answer 1

We need to start with the fact that white light is a combination of all colors produced equally by a glowing object. A glowing object that appears blue is blue because it's producing more blue light than it is producing red, orange, yellow, green light. The color of a glowing object depends on the temperature of the object. Now we can proceed to your question. Two Reasons why the Sun appears yellow:
1. The Sun's surface temperature (5,500 degrees C) produces a range of visible light (red to blue) in which yellow is the most plentiful, but not much more than other colors it produces. If the Sun were cooler, say 2,500 degrees C, it would look red, like the stars Antares and Betelgeuse. Or if the Sun were hotter, say 15,000 degrees C, it would look blue, like the star Rigel.

2 The Earth's atmosphere acts as a kind of light filter. Some colors are filtered more than others. The Sun is a yellow star, but the Earth's atmosphere makes the Sun look more yellow than it appears than if you were to observe it from space where it would appear more white than yellow. But you don't have to leave Earth to see that the Sun is really less yellow than it appears. If you are in the Rocky Mountains at 11,000 ft elevation, the Sun looks less yellow and more white than it does at sea level. There are fewer air molecules at this elevation to filter the Sun's other colors. Imagine what the Sun would look like from an airplane at 40,000 ft altitude--quite white! Also, when you are able to look at the Sun where you live, it's morning or late afternoon. It's easier to look at the Sun for a few seconds than it is a noon. The Sun appears more yellow at those times than it would if you were to observe it at noon (12 PM) when Sun is highest in the sky for the day; it's at its brightest and whitest--hard to look at. Because of the Sun's high position at noon, the sunlight has less air to travel through. Less air means less filtering of other colors. Remember: Light appears white because all colors are equally reaching your eyes. So, at noon the Sun appears to be more white, less yellow--closer to the way it really is! (Don't try to make this observation without hi-tech eye protection).

Answer 2

On Earth, the sun appears yellow. If you were out in space, or on the moon, the sun would look white. In space, there is no atmosphere to scatter the sun's light. On Earth, some of the shorter wavelength light (the blues and violets) are removed from the direct rays of the sun by scattering. The remaining colors together appear yellow.

Also, out in space, the sky looks dark and black, instead of blue. This is because there is no atmosphere. There is no scattered light to reach your eyes.

Answer 3

It is called "color temperature". Hot things glow. Hotter things glow bluer and cooler things glow redder. Red hot is actually the coolest glowing hot thing. The Sun isn't really yellow. You can see that it is white. But it is off white, with a little more yellow than blue. If it were hotter, it would have less yellow and more blue. Oddly enough, bluer colors, which are the result of higher temperatures, are called "cool white", while yellower colors, that result from cooler temperatures, are called "warm white". That is because people think of blue as a cool color, as in ice blue or whatever.

Answer 4

There is no one single answer that is always right. If you limit it to only stars on the main sequence, Blue-White stars are always more massive and have hotter surface temperatures than our Sun. White Dwarfs, however, are not necessarily forced to follow this model.

Answer 5

Actually the surface of the Sun is white, not yellow. It only appears yellow in children's pictures and when it's close to the horizon.

Answer 6

Temperature, a type O star such as S.Doradus is a lot hotter and appears blue.

Answer 7

the sun is a mediun start that your temerature is no high between others stars, but we serch temperatures around 5000 deegres, if star had a high temperature she appear more white, else she appear more red, ok give-me your e-mail...