Is Our Sun Really White and Not Yellow

Image credit: @StationCDRKelly

A popular tweet about the true colour of the sun has sparked a Twitter debate,

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with users debating whether our nearest star is truly white or yellow.

Image credit:  @StationCDRKelly

On September 12, the space-related Twitter account Latest In Space tweeted:

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"Space Fact: The sun is actually white, but appears yellow due to Earth's atmosphere."

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In less than 24 hours, the tweet had received over 1,000 retweets, nearly 10,000 likes, and hundreds of replies.

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It's not white- wrote one user, referring to distinctly yellow images of the sun on NASA's website.

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Sunsets and sunrises appear red, yellow, or orange because the sun's light must travel through more of Earth's 

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atmosphere to reach the ground when it is lower in the sky than when it is directly overhead.

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The longer sunlight travels through the atmosphere, the more short wavelengths of light, such as blue, are scattered.

Image credit:  @StationCDRKelly