/same colour as the sun
January 21, 2024
All electromagnetic radiation is light, but we can only see a small portion of this radiation—the portion we call visible light. Cone-shaped cells in our eyes act as receivers tuned to the wavelengths in this narrow band of the spectrum. Other portions of the spectrum have wavelengths too large or too small and energetic for the biological limitations of our perception.
The Sun is the dominant source for visible-light waves our eyes receive. The outer-most layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona, can be seen in visible light. But it is so faint it cannot not be seen except during a total solar eclipse because the bright photosphere overwhelms it. Photons produced in the photosphere escape the Sun through the transparent solar atmosphere above it and become solar radiation, sunlight.
When I think about the colours associated with this narrative, blue, and shades of red come to mind, think, of a blowtorch. It fills me with wonder how a celestial body ~150 million km away, uses not only the sky on Earth but the entire landscape as a canvas to express itself. So, while describing how a place felt like,
what a day was like,
or when I can’t describe what you are to me, to anyone,
does it make sense if I say, ‘same colour as the sun’?
