What color is the sun?

When viewed from outside our atmosphere the sun appears white. Contrary to popular belief, the sun is actually white!

The Sun as Seen by ISS Image via Nasa.gov

RAINBOWS!RAINBOWS! How does a Rainbow Form

White Light is Composed of all Colors: ROY G BIV WHITE LIGHT PRISM

White Light is Composed of all Colors: ROY G BIV 1) As light enters a new material or medium (e.g. from air to glass) it changes speed which causes it to bend or refract. Different colors of light bend different amounts. Thus, white light separated into a full rainbow of colors. WHITE LIGHT PRISM How Does a Prism Work?

Simple Refraction Demo Arrow and a glass cup.

A simple explanation is that all the particles in our atmosphere filter out all the colors but yellow making the sun appear yellow. Likewise, grass is green because the pigment chlorophyll inside of grass is very good at absorbing blue and red light, leaving the green to be reflected. Why Does the Sun Appear to be Yellow?

At dawn/dusk the sun has to travel through a longer path in the atmosphere to reach us which scatters out the blue normally making up our sky color. Why are Sunrises and Sunsets Red/Orange? EARTH X The size of our atmosphere is EXTREMELY exaggerated!

If Earth was the Size of an Apple The atmosphere would be much thinner than the skin on the apple. The atmosphere is about 60 miles thick whereas earth has a radius of about 4,000 miles.

WHITE LIGHT How Does a Rainbow Form? Sunlight strikes water droplets in the atmosphere. The water droplets behave like a prism and separate the light into a full rainbow of colors. THE SUN MUST BE AT YOUR BACK TO SEE A RAINBOW

As white sunlight enters a raindrop it refracts into a full spectrum of color. The light will then reflect or bounce off the opposite side of the drop and exit on the same side it entered (refracting again!) Refraction Reflection