What Color is the Sun?

• Though humans perceive the sun as yellow when they look directly at it, it is actually white. The sun is made up of a collection of gases, such as helium, hydrogen and other elements, and is so hot that it emits a white light. If you were to look at the sun in outer space rather than through Earth's atmosphere, the sun would appear to be whitish in color rather than golden. This is because the appearance of the sun's rays is distorted as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere.
  
  

Why Does the Sun Appear Yellow to Humans?

• The sun appears yellow to humans because that is the way the light from the sun is interpreted after it strikes our visual cortex. Though the sun gives off white light, the sun's rays are filtered when they enter the atmosphere. The elements in the atmosphere filter out the blue components of the white spectrum in the rays. The blue components are filtered out, leaving predominantly reddish-yellow components behind. The rays are then processed as yellow by our visual cortex.
  
  

Do Other Creatures Perceive the Sun as Yellow?

• Scientists aren't sure whether other animals perceive the sun as yellow, but they do know that humans' color-detection systems are fairly exceptional. We see the sun as yellow because our eyes are sensitive to the variations in the color spectrum. Humans detect color with photosensitive cells known as cones, which are located in the eyes. Some other creatures do not possess these cells, but rather more black-and-white-sensitive cells known as rods. These rods are more sensitive to the subtleties of light, and therefore may interpret the sun as gray.