# The Sun isn't yellow. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247 "2012-05-27T14:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/21 "2012-05-28T03:16:54Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > It is yellow. It says so in the Superman comics. Crap, I thought it was because God already used the green crayon for the grass and the blue crayon for the sky and wanted to save the red and purple crayons for flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/22 "2012-05-28T04:25:31Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > You need to google and look at the Ohio river. We gots us some green looking water flowing through dem der locks. That’s Ohio, though- the rivers there would scare the East River. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/23 "2012-05-28T04:38:59Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > …it’s chicken. 🙂 Alex; “what does the sun taste like?” ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/24 "2012-05-28T05:38:54Z")
The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/25 "2012-05-28T05:56:02Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Indoctrination. You rarely see blue water but that’s how children color it because that’s what they’ve been told. Well, my crayon box didn’t have clear as an option. Anyway the ocean often does look bluish due to the reflection of the sky. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/26 "2012-05-28T06:00:54Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Well, my crayon box didn’t have clear as an option. > > Anyway the ocean often does look bluish due to the reflection of the sky. Furthermore, water is blue. From wikipedia: The color of water is a subject of both scientific study and popular misconception. While relatively small quantities of water are observed by humans to be colorless, pure water has a slight blue tint that becomes a deeper blue as the thickness of the observed sample increases. The blue hue of water is an intrinsic property and is caused by selective absorption and scattering of white light. Impurities dissolved or suspended in water may give water different colored appearances. It is a common misconception that in large bodies, such as the oceans, the water’s color is blue due to the reflections from the sky on its surface. The opportunity to visibly observe the blue color of water from land or airplanes is provided by the optical scattering of unabsorbed light from water molecules, from white sandy ocean bottoms, as well as from suspended particles in the water. The back-scattering from water molecules alone is very small and only observable in highly purified water. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/27 "2012-05-28T06:05:50Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Anyway the ocean often does look bluish due to the reflection of the sky. You might just want to check that “fact” before you go around repeating it. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/28 "2012-05-28T06:07:51Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > So why does everyone (children) draw it as yellow? Cultural indoctrination. Where I live (Japan) children draw red suns, even if it’s shown as being high in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/29 "2012-05-28T07:17:09Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > In Bermuda perhaps. In New York, the ocean, Sound and rivers are greenish-black. The lakes and rivers in Arkansas are generally blue. Last time I was on the east coast and looked into the Atlantic Ocean it looked blue to me. It looked blue in New Jersey and it looked blue in Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/30 "2012-05-28T07:26:58Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Indoctrination. You rarely see blue water… I wouldn’t say it’s _rare_ to see blue water. If you live anywhere near the ocean, a large river or body of water larger than a pond, or if you visit a swimming pool(often tiled or coated blue inside, but the water itself is also still blue), or a public aquarium, you see blue water. If you have a white bath and fill it with plain water, you can see the blue colour. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/31 "2012-05-28T13:07:32Z")
The water the Tidy Bowl man sails on is blue! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/32 "2012-05-28T13:23:34Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace. Au contraire - [the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WDMA). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/33 "2012-05-28T14:07:22Z")
The sun looks yellow compared with the blue sky. Yellow is the complementary colour of blue. And, as others have pointed out, the blue colour of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering, and all that light has come from the sun. So if the blue light is smeared out across the whole sky, there must be more yellow left in the image of the sun itself. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/34 "2012-05-28T21:08:13Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Alex; “what does the sun taste like?” A dropped barbell. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/35 "2012-05-28T21:09:30Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > It is a common misconception that in large bodies, such as the oceans, the water’s color is blue due to the reflections from the sky on its surface. > [@Shakester](#): > > You might just want to check that “fact” before you go around repeating it. Huh, go figure. I’ll add that one to the list of yet another thing I learned in school that was completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/36 "2012-05-28T21:21:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s Ohio, though- the rivers there would scare the East River. It’s caught fire a couple times, back in the day. I saw pictures. Film at eleven; [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5PtqSvwyNsQ/hqdefault.jpg "Cuyahoga River burning, 1969: My experience") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PtqSvwyNsQ) Cool, in a way. Finally got some attention about pollution. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/37 "2012-05-28T21:43:56Z")
Regarding water color I had an interesting experience once. Got there and the water was a vibrant GREEN. It was impressive and beautiful. Then I noticed two things. The water is only inches deep and crystal clear. For a few moments I was like WTF? Then I put two and two together. Crystal clear water. Sandy white bottom. Whole area covered by vibrant green foliage up high. Ahhhh… makes sense now. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/38 "2012-05-28T23:17:06Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > You have two logical choices. First one. The sun as seen from space is defined to be “white” and the sun as seen from the bottom of the atmosphere is slightly yellowish (because a non negligble fraction of the sun’s light (the bluish part) was scattered to create that bright blue sky you see). > > Or the sun as seen from some specific place on the earths surface under specific atmospheric, astronomical, and weather conditions is defined to be “white” and therefore the sun as seen from space is slightly “blueish” in comparision. > > To me the first way makes more sense because the defining condition is very simple and obvious. The second way requires one to define on specific condition out of a very large range of possible conditions. Also compared to the blue sky the sun is a bit yellowish. > > We have had this discussion before. And back then I did an experiment. Basically I illuminate a white piece of paper with just light from the sun. Then I illuminated it with light from the sun AND the sky. The first one was definitely yellowish compared to the second one. And I even took pics and looked at the color histograms of the photos. Yep, even the numbers said more yellow by comparision so it wasn’t just my eyeballs and personal “tastes”. I call BS. Unless you did the experiment when the sun was low in the sky, sunlight is the very definition of “white” – The CIE Chromaticity coordinates of sunlight – B, C, and D – are meant to represent sunlight. None of them is yellow: > **[Standard illuminant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_illuminant)** > > A standard illuminant is a theoretical source of visible light with a spectral power distribution that is published. Standard illuminants provide a basis for comparing images or colors recorded under different lighting. > The International Commission on Illumination (usually abbreviated CIE for its French name) is the body responsible for publishing all of the well-known standard illuminants. Each of these is known by a letter or by a letter-number combination. > Illuminants A, B, and C were introd... The amount of blue scattered out of sunlight when it’s high in the sky isn’t enough to mmake it look yellow. I’d be curious to see your “histogram” data that suggests otherwise. It is true that as the sun descends it traverses more atmosphere, and as it gets lower (and less irritating to the eye) it will appear more yellow as it gets closer to the horizon. The setting sun , depending upon how much dust and the like is in the air, will appear yellow, orange, or red. I suspect that people universally say the sun is yellow because, if you plot out the CIE coordinates of the sun, it progresses from white directly toward the yellow point on the spectral locus (I’ve done the calculation) before veering off to orange or red. As Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer (and a onetime Doper) pointed out, if sunlight were yellow because of the blue light scattered out, then anything white would appear yellow – white houses, whie signs, white cumulus clouds. Despite Billfish’s assrtions, they certainly don’t appear that way to me – or to the people who designated the standard illuminants. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/39 "2012-05-28T23:40:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > As Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer (and a onetime Doper) pointed out, if sunlight were yellow because of the blue light scattered out, then anything white would appear yellow – white houses, whie signs, white cumulus clouds. Despite Billfish’s assrtions, they certainly don’t appear that way to me – or to the people who designated the standard illuminants. Not when you ADD back in the blue that got scattered out in the first place. Do the damn experiment. Look a piece of paper illuminated only by direct sunlight only. Then look at one illuminated by direct sunlight PLUS about 1 pi steradians of clear blue sky. One HAS to look more blueish or yellowish than the other one. Which you pick to call what is abitrary. But IMO yours is more arbitrary than mine, because it depends on a many variable to all be specific condition. Do puffy white clouds in the sky to you look white or do they look blue? ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247/40 "2012-05-28T23:49:08Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Because paper is white and the sun wouldn’t stand out if it was the same. Yellow is the next best color. Plus everybody knows you would use white for the moon. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sun-isnt-yellow/623247.md?page=3)