Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the REAL Color of the Sun

Is the sun yellow? Like in those pictures you drew as a kid? The answer is no. On this StarTalk explainer, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice investigate the true color of the Sun.
Neil explains why the Sun’s true color is white. You’ll learn how the atmosphere takes the Sun’s white light and turns it into something else. You’ll also learn why the blue sky is stolen sunlight.
Lastly, Neil gives us a photography lesson and tells us how photographers deal with different light. We investigate indoor vs. outdoor light. All that, plus, Neil explains why snow being white is evidence of the Sun’s white light.
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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
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[@KusanagiMotoko100]

I like the idea of Chuck just minding his own business at his house and Neil just calls him at any time to explain random scientific concepts to him.

[@banananerlandia]

Studying but it's for the gnarly dudes from the 80's

[@TagiukGold]

Yes!

[@frogz]

neil calls chuck at 4:24 every day

[@ikitclaw7146]

i wish an astrophysicist would randomly call me and explain random things to me like this lol

[@victorb145]

@@ikitclaw7146 Me too but instead of Neil or an astrophysicist can I just have David Attenborough call me and explain animal stuff to me instead. Boy have I got some questions for him like does he still think golden eagles are the largest Eagles what gave him that idea?

[@bhaveshchoudhary7743]

Teacher: why have you drawn the sun white? Me: Well, the atmosphere....

[@milanarybethwindictive3969]

also teacher: "well ma little boy, thats not correct. the sun was always yellow. dont try to think you are special. btw im sending you to a doctor...." PS: joke

[@Thomas-qn4hj]

@@milanarybethwindictive3969 not far off, when I was a child and asked my teacher (nuns) about dinosaurs, the reply I got was, dinosaurs are not real, the earth is only 6000 years old, so there was no time for the dinosaurs to exist.

[@Thomas-qn4hj]

@@Ozzymandius1 Understandable, but unfortunately I have a hard time blaming them, it really all starts with education, I'm sure they were taught to believe that, and in turn thought they were doing the right thing trying to teach me the same.

[@B1u35ky]

Well, the atmosphere is non existent in my rendition

[@thelyrebird1310]

I use to colour the whole sky blue except for the sun and left it white.. it was not the moon...

[@juddvance7721]

Even when I know the concept ahead of time, Neil explains it way better than I do. I love to hear him teach.

[@0Theory]

He’s such a great educator 🥰

[@thisbushnell2012]

Born teacher! And in love with his subject, makes all the difference. Had a history prof the same way. On an empty stage before 400 students, he made it alive, nearly visible to us.

[@jcukier2]

As a high school chemistry teacher, I wish I could just lecture every other day about awe-inspiring science phenomena & blow their minds with this crazy information regarding everyday objects. Unfortunately, I have to teach mole conversions & Bohr models & mass numbers & Lewis Structures to 16 year olds whose brains are so warped by those rectangles in their pocket that it becomes just another class to them. I’d love to see Neil teach HS with all the crap that basically every teacher has to deal with currently. I can imagine him doing a lecture one period while being observed, and all of his questions are way too advanced for his group of students too addicted to their phones to care about anything else happening in their immediate vicinity. “Great information Mr. Tyson, but did you didn’t check their understanding enough, you didn’t have them group up and work on an activity together, you didn’t ask them questions to gauge their level of understanding, and you missed about 10 kids who had their phone out for at least 15 seconds. One kid had his head down and you didn’t address it and ask him if he needed to go to the nurse or if he needed to step into the hall to take a mental break, maybe he was working all night to provide food for his family & he just doesn’t feel like “schooling” today. Mr. Tyson, you need to work more on building relationships with each student, even the ones who only care about TicTac & swiping thru videos. I advise you to reach out to other teachers & observe them so that you can see this in action. We’ll be in touch.”

[@orko714]

"The Sun is white." "Why you gotta do that?"

[@kitkatsci8700]

"the blue sky is stolen sunlight" Keeping that line locked in my brain.

[@banananerlandia]

Did Pluto stole it

[@Thomas-qn4hj]

not necessarily stolen, just redirected, or slowed down.

[@ejmtv3]

@@Thomas-qn4hj stolen is way cooler

[@TheBiggreenpig]

Also knowing that blue is hotter than red astounded me, when i first learnt it :D

[@rykeynb90]

@@Thomas-qn4hj y.n L. ` b. LRtqnhl.nm?xm

[@_Killkor]

Child: "Mom, look at my drawing!" *shows a blank piece of paper* Mom: "What is this?" Child: "Sun."

[@IIISentorIII]

10 people didn't get it so far, not even sure how this is possible, but it's the word we life in apparently ;) Edit: 52 people (unbelievable) ;)

[@Z3t487]

@@IIISentorIII 10 people removed their comments?

[@cifer8070]

@@Z3t487 they are probably racists and love to white wash history

[@TheUltimateRare]

easy way to fix that. use black paper and draw a white sun.

[@joer8854]

@@TheUltimateRare Better, use a white piece of paper and draw everything else leaving only the round circle in the sky.

[@williampagdon4822]

I have worked in Spectroscopy for 38 years and still enjoy Mr. Tyson's explanations for Light. While his knowledge is vast, he speaks in clear Terms that virtually anyone can understand. It is a gift that few have.

[@gerakore8948]

although the sun is not white. if you worked in spectroscopy, you would have seen a black body radiation chart for the sun.

[@williampagdon4822]

@@gerakore8948 I am quite familiar with the Radiation Spectrum of the Sun and other objects. Most people don't carry a Spectrometer with them, so they go by the Visible Spectrum. For more information, go see a Rainbow.

[@perseusarkouda]

As a videographer I was always wondering as to why the video lights with higher kelvin were actually colder (blueish). Then I realized when we set higher kelvin on camera to get warmer (yellowish) colors was because we made the camera less sensitive to higher temperature and not because we were matching with the actual sunlight kelvin.

[@amandas.6500]

That's the best explanation of "why is the sky blue" I've ever heard!

[@navdeepsengh]

If you listened to his 1-2 yr old podcast episodes, you'll find even better explanations of his.

[@KYnightstalker]

@@navdeepsengh truth I don’t think there is a single video of his that I have not watched I probably have not listened to every single podcast but this KZbin channel I have watched every video at least once lol 😂

[@hashirkhan5204]

Honestly Ma'am, that's class 7th Syllabus in India. The sun's color is new but the sky color is really middle school.

[@SMITESHSURESH]

@Amanda s. My thoughts exactly!

[@tirthapaul7979]

Its all about scattering

[@user0077]

This is not just great Physics. It’s great Chemistry between them.

[@l88ol]

I see what you did there 😂

[@shedrickwallace9363]

I have to admit a something here. First of all I’m black. I know the other guy is a comedian therefore he is sort of doing his job. On the other hand, I didn’t see the the point of bringing race into a purely educational moment. That’s just my opinion.

[@ericbryant2315]

@@shedrickwallace9363 you answered your own question bro lol… he’s a comedian lol… it’s okay

[@MFgreatness]

🤣

[@frankcoverjr.-jz3ne]

After the “Big Bang”, it’s all chemistry!

[@ruaboutasize14]

I explained this in much simpler terms to my 4 year old daughter, and the look of awe and amazement on her face was the most beautiful thing I could ever see. I imagine that’s what Dr Tyson sees in lecture halls when he has to describe things to attendees as if they are 4 year olds.

[@SPACE-C0WB0Y]

I learned something 😂 Neil never fails to make science easy to understand and entertaining to listen to

[@patrickgrannus7886]

I learned that we orbit a White Dwarf. Who'd a thunk it.

[@skirmisher1901]

Sun: *exists* Neil: Do not ever use the word yellow with me

[@jessalyadav1309]

yeah the sun is white

[@darrentayloe9439]

Combining science with humor is a great idea. This was educational and fun to watch. Thank you!

[@aliseyedi]

I am so thankful for Chuck being in the show.he makes everything look interesting and enjoyable. I think i love science just because of him. Thank you Chuck and of course thank you so much Neil for doing this.

[@wendelynanderson9517]

I just love Dr. Tyson. As a textile designer myself, I had to study color science which I find fascinating. The most fundamental principle we had to understand is that there is no color without light, & the kind of light you have available to see, the sun, candlelight, electric or digital, will affect or determine what colors you see. And as the sun sets our perceptions of color become less saturated & gray.

[@bobbyboshay4406]

There is no color without an organic brain interpreting the different wavelengths of photons.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Even with light, you won’t necessary have colour. Do you have sodium-vapour streetlamps in your town? They emit a very narrow range of wavelengths, and even though this radiation is in the yellow part of the visible spectrum, a street illuminated only with this light will look grey.

[@DaveAdams222]

Being into photography myself, I've replaced all of the bulbs in my home with 5000K "daylight" units with super high CRI. Even shooting through a phone camera the difference is immediately noticeable. I knew this was the case but didn't know the "science" behind it. This helped a lot!

[@user-lg1kd6zh5v]

5000K is the color temperature. It means that your bulb emits the same kind of light as a "black body" (do not confuse with black hole) heated to 5000K temperature. Guess what, our sun is black body and its surface has 5500K temperature.

[@chrisf84]

Just a heads up that lighting will improve your general mood (it is a treatment for depression). It also affects your circadian rhythm more than incandescent lighting, making it more difficult for you to fall asleep.

[@Lightning_Lance]

Does this also help against the red eyes?

[@DaveAdams222]

@@Lightning_Lance in my experience, it doesn’t. That’s something we usually hit with filtering, external flash, or in post.

[@DANGJOS]

@@DaveAdams222 The high CRI 5000 Kelvin bulbs are LED, right?

[@taylorrobeug2044]

Neil: not everything is about race Chuck: first Jazz then the blues now they took the Sun too.

[@drdread9896]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@kylefortner8709]

Exactly

[@SilvaFox]

Here's the real kicker, it's the sun's fault that some of us have lots of melanin in our skin and others have little. If it were possible for the sun to hit every point on earth equally for the same amount of time each day, we all would have the same color skin.

[@allears3867]

@@SilvaFox 😑

[@ericmeekey7886]

@@SilvaFox Geocentrism is dead, dude.

[@themeantuber]

I was so confused by the cold/warm reference when computer and smartphone screens started implementing night mode, it took me a while to understand what they were talking about. Thank you for clearing this.

[@dirkgallian2538]

You missed a perfect opportunity to explain Kelvin temperature and how that affects color. It complements your discussion of cooler temp bulbs outputting warmer (perceptually) temp light. LOVE your videos!

[@rusteshackleferd8115]

Chuck's humor is 60% of the reason why I watch these videos.

[@StudioDragoonX]

I agree. The play off each other well.

[@davemarm]

Neil's humor is 40% of the reason why I watch these videos.

[@MV407tv]

At first I ain’t like him but now I really appreciate him 💯💯💯💯

[@shanephillips8009]

Yeah because he's so oppressed. Its hilarious 😒

[@rusteshackleferd8115]

@@Adam_C_anadian 1. Who are you replying to? 2. Why do you assume their "little racist" and not that your taking their comment out of context (potassium the one about being oppressed is difficult to not misinterpret) the person might just be poorly using sarcasm.

[@jackharper24]

"The Sun's not yellow, it's chicken." Bob Dylan

[@steve-o6413]

That's some old yellow lol...

[@p-unitnano6969]

@@steve-o6413 ggx

[@p-unitnano6969]

@@steve-o6413 g

[@p-unitnano6969]

@@steve-o6413 gg

[@HDPOTATEE]

And tombstones are blue

[@theresemalmberg955]

I'm an artist and I am fascinated by the sky and atmospheric phenomena. I spend hours and hours looking at the sky and I notice things a lot of people probably don't. When I paint, I generally don't use photographs but rely on my memory. This drove one of my art instructors wild--"you can't do that, you need reference material." Who says? Anyway I noticed very early on that the sun is NOT yellow, it is white. I haven't yet succeeded in reproducing it to my satisfaction because of course you can't look directly at it, not for very long. It's a challenge and maybe some day I will master it.

[@adambuckley6160]

Hey i just discovered startalk and now im hungry to learn more so thank you, I bought your book Neil and loving it 😊

[@thesteelshadow4570]

So Chuck doesn't pay attention to the fact that the whole universe is literally black but gets mad because of tiny white spots ? xD

[@WDChevyMan]

Is the universe really black tho....?

[@J.B24]

It's called a joke.

[@Broockle]

@@WDChevyMan compared to the sun... yes color's relative

[@banananerlandia]

he wants that red light that looks almost black

[@SR009s]

@@DownRange02 i think youre overreacting. If a white guy made the opposite joke, nothing would happen.

[@a_h3184]

I have to press pause and take a drink of water every time he says “ready to take it up a notch” in his podcast.

[@TaterFarmer]

Would be a decent drinking game. Lol

[@Li01018]

Can u tell me his podcast?

[@meanpeen5647]

bro that’s not safe you’re gonna get water poisoning..

[@m3verse567]

Love it

[@justsomeguy6133]

So here’s a question. The sun is a G2 star. They even call G class stars “yellow dwarfs“. They also appear as yellow on the Herzsprung-Russell diagram. So I accept your explanation that the sun is actually white in color, as it makes perfect sense. But if our sun were a red dwarf, or red giant, would it actually appear red, or would it be more of just a slightly pinkish white? Same thing if the sun were say, an O-class star, which we think of as “Blue” in astronomy. Would it look blue? White? Slightly bluish-white? If you look in the night sky at a Star known to be a red giant (or supergiant), like Arcturus or Antares, you can definitely see an orange/red tint to it. Rigel has a bluish color. Would these stars look the same color if you were standing on a planet orbiting them with an atmosphere like Earth’s?

[@khriss867]

Had the same question and was looking through the comments for an answer.

[@EddieDexterStewart]

Videographer and editor here. The explanation of white balancing and hot/cold light is absolutely correct.

[@realnikb]

I always know that when Neil says "consider the following"... I've gotta buckle up cause the next couple of minutes is gonna blow my mind.

[@johnbenya9558]

Dad was in the Navy. They had a saying. "Red sky at night sailors delight, red sky at morning sailor take warning" refers to the days weather and wind and rain. (Has something to do with clouds many miles away.) What I found was it is basically true. If the sunset was yellow, rain the next day, if deeper yellow rain with wind. Most times in the northern hemisphere. A video on this would be very interesting.

[@markmakabuhay2009]

That is true, the reason is more atmosphere signifies bad weather coming. The atmosphere is filled with so much moisture making the atmosphere thicc.

[@Dandersenification]

@@markmakabuhay2009 This is probably one of the few exception were I dislike thicc.

[@apoliticallevi]

@@markmakabuhay2009 lmfaoo “thicc”

[@iainparamor1482]

The last point is so interesting to me as a stage lighting engineer. We use color temperature to describe the quality of white we need from around 1500k (warm amber look) up to around 8000k (cool ice look) never thought about it before now but it’s weird that those temps are back to front!

[@somedude4879]

While the sun emits all the colours enough to saturate all of our cones so we can see white, current research suggests the sun is really green as thats the colour it emits the most out of all of the other ones. For us to see white it doesn’t have to be an even mixture of all the colours, if we just get enough of each light to fully saturate our cones we can’t tell if its an uneven mixture be you’d that because our eyes can’t detect those differences.

[@furretplays9519]

Neil: The Sun is not yellow. Me as a kid: IT HAS ALL BEEN A LIE. I HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!

[@avenoma]

its okay Chuck, I looked at the sun when I was a kid for over 10 seconds in mid day. It eventually turns all black with dancing colors on the rim.

[@plutoidrepublic2765]

it turns black?

[@brazilforreal1]

I've read some scientists saying that the Sun's real color is white but it's not perfect white as it has a bit of a green tint that is not easily perceived, only with the special equipment.

[@ericsullivan145]

I was waiting for the spectrum of the sun and what wavelength is emitted with the greatest strength. That would be good for another video. I am sharing this with my college students. Great content as always both of you.

[@DANGJOS]

I absolutely love color theory! I must say, Neil did a great job with this explanation. Only one thing I would say a bit differently. For Rayleigh scattering (the process that causes the blue sky), the particles have to be significant smaller than the wavelength of visible light, not the same. Regardless, fascinating explanations!

[@tomcrowell6697]

@startalk, as an artist I love your explanations of light, color, perception, and you even mentioned photographic white filtering. I just wish you had explained additive and subtractive color better. But great job!

[@Johnnyred51]

Bravo Neil. I am a lighting designer for theatre and you hit the nail on the head about the subject: the color of light.

[@ajalbetjr]

As a part-time Professional Photographer, believe it or not my learning this a few years ago actually improved my editing/lighting skills!! Planning for 5500-5700 K(elvin), better known as 'Daylight' on bulbs, fixed a lot of issues I was having with proper exposure of subjects, etc. ... It was something simple yet mindblowing in it's overall effect for me! Now, even when I do cellphone photography, I will go into 'Pro' modes and correct white balance!

[@jfrealestate201]

Neil! I love your podcast! I've been a fan ever since you did the new Cosmos. Your thumbnails DON't do your channel justice!! I will make 1 or 2 thumbnails for you! No charge, it will be an honor! Thank you for educating us! Please let me know.

[@VanessaSilva-xm3fj]

Ya! Give a new thumbnail a shot 😀

[@ks1gaming932]

People should watch StarTalk because they want to learn more about science and not because of a eye catching thumbnail

[@niro6246]

@@ks1gaming932 nahh a lot of people need to be lured into science tbh

[@dustinfocus]

I myself am a photographer. And one part of our verbiage is to say the image is too hot. And what that means is that there is TOO much light entering the camera - which means the image is overexposed. So, here, learning about the heat of light, I appreciate Neil breaking down our use of color temperature. Very fun episode

[@SooSkiTzOYT]

you have taught me so much on this universe and i continue to learn everyday, i loved and still do love Science and Math every since elementary school, and i now plan on pursuing astrophysics

[@CarolBurke-ig2lb]

Im so happy I'm understanding NDT. He explains it in a visual way w his words ! I am 64 and have wondered about this and other things like tides, seasons, etc. It feels good to get it. So cool.

[@Aiballa]

A world-renowned scientist using "thiccness" as a unit of measurement: this is now one of my favorite channels.

[@letsgetshwiftyy6780]

"i don't see color" - makes a black joke every chance XD

[@frogz]

Mcbain: thaaaats the joke

[@KirilF]

ohhhh now I got it XD

[@reallyshua8036]

It is black history month...im sure he has a joke for everyday

[@strangely240]

Wait that was a black joke? i thought he was serious about being colorblind 😅

[@KimboKG14]

well black is not a color it's the abscene of reflected light

[@gryph01]

I am a photographer and love how Neil explains colour theory.

[@sixstanger00]

Neil's explanation of outdoor/indoor film has just made me realize why old VHS camcorders had indoor/outdoor modes, and if you accidentally went outside with it set on "indoor" mode, everything would look tinted blue, and if you accidentally left it on "outdoor mode" inside, everything would look too yellowish.

[@ElliotNesterman]

"We pulled the switch and it gave off light. Now, first it looked like magic." Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke

[@Verdadeiro]

Thank you for posting this. I asked this question some time ago to Star Talk, why are movies always depicting the Sun as yellow? When seen from space! From there it doesn't look yellow, it looks WHITE!

[@RayRay-zt7bj]

I'm guessing it's probably easier on the eyes of the viewer. What would happen if a child drew an outdoor scene with a white Sun on a white piece of paper?

[@milanimorales2645]

Most public school textbooks depict the sun as yellow orange with black spots

[@AverageAlien]

@@RayRay-zt7bj I don't care if it's easier on the eyes of the viewer. It shouldn't be. Why should viewers be shielded from reality?

[@AverageAlien]

@@milanimorales2645 Colour filter. The sun is white with black spots, but they add an orange colour filter

[@RayRay-zt7bj]

@@AverageAlien Hey look pal, I don't want any trouble with any aliens. You're right though. We shouldn't be shielded from reality. The thing is that here on Earth, many movies are not presented as reality. They have genres of, fantasy, superhero, and paranormal. I guess earthlings like an escape from reality once in a while. Besides, we have schools that teach us science here on earth. I'm sure the students would be in for quite a shock when the teacher discusses the different types of stars, yellow, white, blue, red giants. Their yellow interpretation of the Sun can lead to other topics such as the color spectrum and wavelengths. Enjoy your stay on Earth sir, madam, multi or non-biological.

[@rajukarki2792]

If Neil was my physics lecturer I never bunk my class. I can listen his lecture with the same energy and the enthusiasm for the entire day when it started

[@suhdu5448]

As a child. I remember literally staring at the sun at its core, and would lock eyes on it without blinking, then would start to see a blue circle moving in a circular motion. From what I can remember I did it Atleast 20 times in my childhood and never was affected by it. I actually have 20/20 vision

[@dreadblock7592]

All jokes aside what's your eye color

[@jaimebatista4624]

You know, it’s moments like these that make me happy I have the brain that I do because I had known that the sun was white without actually looking up anything up on it. I just simply observed the environment around me, the light it gave off and the sun itself to conclude that it was actually white. Hearing Tyson confirm that fills me with great confidence, thank you.

[@Jawssalamalecu]

Here I am, getting closer and closer to my 40s and each time I watch a StarTalk video, I just feel like a 4th grader again.

[@jbseattle7461]

I'm a photographer who was a physics major in college and this is the first time that I realized "warmer" light was actually cooler! ;-)

[@manifestgtr]

The total solar eclipse of 2017 was a really profound experience for me. Witnessing the sun, as a perfectly white diamond in the sky with the planets/stars coming out and twilight on every horizon…it was mind-blowing and it really changed by personal relationship to the cosmos forever. This is gonna sound grim…but honestly, I can see why ancient people starting sacrificing virgins and howling at the moon whenever a total solar eclipse came around. If you had no scientific basis for that experience, it would be shocking *beyond belief*

[@seantlewis376]

Always nice to watch your segments. Watching this, I was sort of waiting for you to mention how the invention of the blue LED in the 1990s made it possible to make effectively white light LEDs for home and flashlights, using much less energy than conventional incandescents or fluorescents. The Japanese scientists who made the discovery of how to create a blue LED were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize.

[@eamoralesl]

Thanks for sharing didn't know this bit of information

[@cedric1138]

Neil explains this in one of his videos

[@ZeniferJenZ]

5:23 Wanted : the blue sky Offense: possession of stolen sunlight 😏

[@sir_vaughn2018]

Alright blue Sky!Your Time is Up!🌁🔫🤠

[@ikitclaw7146]

what is this blue sky thing? when ever i look up at the sky its grey and leaking water.

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

@@ikitclaw7146 that's rough buddy

[@ligerfelikscayanga7361]

@@ikitclaw7146 what where are u are u in wales?

[@ikitclaw7146]

@@ligerfelikscayanga7361 north england

[@robertadams6606]

If you are driving East bound at daybreak it's difficult NOT to look at Sun. Sometimes in certain times it's near impossible to see the road due to Sun being below visor.

[@nikhilp1096]

Finally someone talked abt the actual color of Sun. Y can the books/schools make these changes right?

[@williamtomkiel8215]

Frank Zappa: "Watch out where the Huskies go and don't you eat the yellow snow"

[@stevehurl298]

"The sun's not yellow, it's chicken!" --Bob Dylan

[@williamstryker6643]

I'm glad another laughed. I wonder if Tyson was directly referencing the song. You'd be inclined to think so haha!

[@milazimmurati8907]

I am so early, but have no idea what to write that is special.

[@mikeuk666]

then don't

[@danielstone9978]

Desperate

[@draganbalzic4493]

Neil, I was a commercial photographer for 35 years and not once did I describe direct sunlight as blue. It is certainly more blue (at noon by apx 2300 deg Kelvin) than tungsten lighting but daylight at high noon is not blue. Open shade is typically cooler than the Sun at high noon due to open shade be illuminated by the sky. Colorimeters are quite important in professional filming & photography work as they aid in balancing each light’s color temperature and tint. Search for CTO, CTB, 80A, 80B, 80C, 81A, 81B, 81C, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow filters

[@BLAB-it5un]

"You just need a little trigonometry. It's a simple calculation..." Pretty much sums up the difference between NDT and the rest of us. Now if he could find a way to allow the rest of us to realize that trigonometry and simple can in fact be in the same sentence that would be wonderful. In all seriousness, his ability to show the usefulness and practicality of mathematics as the basis of all science is a true gift.

[@torvaderon]

I have never personally related to a piece of science this much. Thank you Neil for making the world just a bit more beautiful to me!

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

Who else as a kid got an F in art class for drawing the sun white? 🤚 Yep, I was a naughty kid

[@kristoradion]

Nah we can't really draw white. It will be no color since the paper is white already 😬

[@quinnhass]

I got in trouble for 'drawing' a blizzard.

[@KirilF]

@@kristoradion well.. you just paint the blue sky and leave an empy circle, don't you?

[@kikimatthes2866]

I have a white crayon, yeeeeeees, I could draw a white sun 🤩 Okay, it's a crayon which appears to be white because it reflects all colours 🧐 Did I get that correctly? Anyway, loved every second of this video.

[@AverageAlien]

because the sun doesn't look completely white through our atmosphere, so unless your drawing was in space...

[@eamoralesl]

Chuck comics knowledge is an awesome balance... Love their dynamic!!

[@isaacheres1354]

Exactly how art directors in movies make up the scenes in film. The director wants a specific looking scene and asks for the right kind of light needed for the set

[@EtherImperial]

The talk of colors and temperature names is never more apparent than when you look at bulbs and computer monitors and the different choices for where the white balance is, 3500K is "Warm" but 5600K is "Cold"

[@arnhelmkrausson8445]

Aaaaaand 6500K is called daylight white

[@Thomas-qn4hj]

do you know what the "K" represents in that temperature model?

[@arnhelmkrausson8445]

@@Thomas-qn4hj Kelvin

[@Thomas-qn4hj]

@@arnhelmkrausson8445 Very nice, not many people know this. CMY....K

[@ASJC27]

@@Thomas-qn4hj The "K" in temperature and the "K" in CMYK are not related. In temperature it is the symbol for the Kelvin scale. In CMYK it means black.

[@hippoplatypus]

The house drawings are right with a yellow sun as it must be near the horizon to be in frame. Childhood restored, back to your crayons everyone 😊

[@ShaneshaS]

My grandma always used to say “I don’t care what they teach you in school, the sun is black”

[@heklik]

I like Dr. Neil talk and explain alone without any interuptions.

[@Thenderick]

You guys really need to start an educational kids tv show all about science! I truly believe you can teach not only children, but everyone in this world that science is fun and awesome! I love these explantation videos, even about the 'simplest' little things in our life. So many things that we just accept as normal because we see it everyday since our birth!

[@dallas2013]

First, I would like to thank you for sharing your content (you rock NDT!). Secondly, I wanted to ask a question in regards to the Sun. What is the closest distance to safely look at the Sun without damaging your eyes at all? My guess would be approximately 2.5EU in distance to be able to directly look at the Sun with out injury to your eyes.

[@jennifercarriger6168]

Ok, so now I have a question. When I was a kid, I was looking at a book on space and it listed a categorization of stars. In it it listed brown dwarfs and white dwarfs, red giants and blue giants, etc... among that listing, our sun was listed as a yellow star. Did we learn something different from back then or am I interpreting this info wrong? Also, as a person with some graphic design experience, Neil is right on his color theory. It is just the difference between additive and subtractive light. A painter would get mud when combining those colors because they would be working with subtractive light. This is why we have CMYK and RGB formats. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are needed to produce all non fluorescent colors in non light producing media like print. Red, green and blue is needed for light producing media such as computer screens.

[@AverageAlien]

Our sun is a yellow dwarf. The name has nothing to do with it's true colour. Red dwarfs are actually more orange-yellow in colour. Brown dwarfs are red in colour.

[@betacar0tin]

I'm sceptical about the snow thing. The snow receives the same light as my eyes. If the sun looks yellow, the snow is hit by yellow light aswell. I think the reason that snow looks white is because it also reflects the blue light from the sky, basically adding it back to the yellow light from which the blue was subtracted in the atmosphere.

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

Does that mean clouds are coloured the same way‽

[@goblinslayerman2374]

Neil and chuck uploads a new video Me questions reality

[@adamflynn7322]

That voice chuck put on was so funny 😂 definitely use that again at some point in the future 👍

[@evilpandakillabzonattkoccu4879]

interestingly enough: I took my son and his friend to the skatepark and his friend asked what a spectrum was. I explained it in terms of light and he got it.... but, on the way home (heading west), the sunset was a full spectrum... even green, which was gorgeous "That. That is a spectrum" "Oooohhh! I get it!" I lobe the sun!

[@njrasmussen5515]

I love your research and analysis method you're awesome. Expecting like your videos I wish you would do something concerning. The 6,000 and 12000-year solar cycles, The galactic current sheet basically I'd like your view on another channel theories I tend to believe those theories but I would like your view on it it is Suspicious Observer and the disaster cycle he has a whole series on it, it's not very long, his videos are usually 5 to 10 minutes so maybe an hour's worth of videos please.......

[@whatdoesthisbuttondo5647]

I love how Neil is laughing at almost everything, what a great guy haha

[@RayRay-zt7bj]

Me: Hey Sun, you are yellow. Sun: Don't EVER call me yellow!!

[@mammallama3522]

I busted out laughing at this comment ahahahah

[@captainhades3975]

Sun: who says i'm yellow?

[@mammallama3522]

@@captainhades3975 me trying to gently explain to the sun that the whole world has made up that assumption

[@DANGJOS]

@@captainhades3975 You are yellow

[@restin09]

There hasn't been one single episode where I haven't laughed at Chucks joke .Please keep up excellent sense of Humour and thanks for sharing such niche knowledge

[@TokyoTraveller]

The sun's blackbody spectrum peaks in the green frequencies, but our eyes combine all the component colors, and our brains process it as white. But, it's actually kind of green.

[@august1871]

Wow. This was so much more informative than I thought it would be.

[@kayanims]

I actually knew of this because I used to look into the sky in the middle of the day

[@tannerman46]

Same... I just thought the sun appeared white because it was simply too bright

[@krshna77]

@@tannerman46 you are right, your eyes got overwhelmed by looking directly, and you perceive it as white, but it's actually still yellow due to atmospheric filtering.

[@krshna77]

@Kayode don't trust your eyes as scientific instruments... -.-

[@Vardoulika]

"At first it looked like magic!" Had me dying! LOL

[@indigotidebeeblebrox9978]

What is really interesting is when you do a time exposure when the moon is out or even just star light. It is very dark outside and every thing looks black to the photographer, only to discover that the camera can still see all the bright colors present as well as the shadows under objects as if it was noon.

[@depayss2428]

Last I was this early, Pluto was still part of the solar system.

[@natureboy1961]

It still is

[@anthonyjohnson2868]

Its not considered to be a planet no more though

[@harsimranbansal5355]

“Get over it” -NDT

[@micheladell8080]

cant believe there's a next generation who isn't gonna care that pluto isn't a planet anymore i feel so old already

[@ogladaczjutjuba3745]

It still is.

[@scottd9448]

I figured that out when I was around 8. We had a science class with prisms and I said that the sun must be white for us to see white light & the teacher was a bit startled.

[@pulkitmohta8964]

You just played with your teacher's ego that time

[@drahunter213]

The changing sun light in green land or someplace there’s a 3 day Timelapse of those days where the sun never sets so it’s just 3 days or something of the sun just always up and during that time the sunlight changes all kinds of colors it’s crazy…deep purples to green to yellow and orange and red I think it’s amazing how far the colors change on that Timelapse

[@sirrobertthomas]

Now, I understand old pictures not being correctly colored, why the moon is white, why the sun is white, and why during lunar eclipses, the moon turns red.

[@blindvisionary415]

Shout out to Chuck! Saw his Tide commercial yesterday.

[@jeffmansfield914]

Adding to that confusion for photographers is the way that digital cameras handle manual compensation for light conditions. My wife and I were pro photogs for quite a few years, and I had a photog friend who was thoroughly mixed up on this concept. We talk about white balance in terms of degrees Kelvin. The lower the number, the more amber the light; the higher the number, the more blue the light contains. The way this plays out in your digital camera settings is that, when you walk into a room with dim incandescent lighting, you set the white balance in the camera to a lower number (maybe 3000K) because you’re telling the camera this is the approximate color of the light, so it will decrease the sensor’s sensitivity to reds/yellows and increase sensitivity to blues, thus resulting in a picture with white things looking white and other colors appearing as they should. The opposite is true outdoors where you set a higher number (6000K, or so) in order to increase reds/yellows and decrease blues. Our friend didn’t realize this setting was just telling the camera what to compensate for, and thought that the lower number meant blue and the higher number meant red/yellow. This came out one day when we were talking about light bulbs and he was swearing that fluorescent or LED bulbs with a higher color temp (5000K) would be very amber, and that something like 2500K would give a more bright daylight look. He kept saying, “When you want your picture more blue, you turn down to a lower number!”, which was accurate, but he was simply misunderstanding what was going on when you did that.

[@davidp71]

I love this stuff! the line about don't tell an artist made me laugh... There is a huge difference between digital (RGB) coloring and print (CMYK) coloring. With RGB, adding all the colors gives you white. With CMYK, it gives you black. So much fun to wrap your head around that!

[@randallking4402]

Also, I love when yaw drop Superman in.

[@stephensmith219]

1:48-1:52 perfect timing

[@lumanshadowboyhisdogfriend3488]

" Back in my day we had to flik athing called a switch that would go to a bulb 💡 that had a little piece of wire in it and that would get hot and make light it was magical "🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 TY for that one

[@ruslankunizhev4083]

I am watching StarTalk an then showing off before my kids😄

[@KYnightstalker]

This is how I spend every day/night just watching and learning as much as humanly possible from my favorite astrophysicist

[@jimdino77]

Wow, what a great way to utilize your time. Well done.