• Question: why is space different colours?

    Asked by Jonseyexplorer to Ajay, Kate, Kuntal, Pip, Reka on 9 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Kate Elliott

      Kate Elliott answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      Was there something in space you were thinking of in particular? It is different colours because different bits are made of different things which are different colours! Also the angle we see it can change the colour (like the sky changing at sunset and sunrise because the sun is lower). Another reason there are lots of amazing colours in pictures of space is because they’re artists impressions of what it looks like to give people an idea of what it would look like.

    • Photo: Pip Millington

      Pip Millington answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      This is a very simple question with a very difficult We largely think of space itself as a vacuum so I suppose it’s really colourless but there are lots of things in space which are very colourful. Some things like planets may have different materials which make up their surface or atmosphere and these absorb and reflect light of different wavelengths/colours due to the surfaces of their molecular structure.

      For things which emit light like stars, it depends on their mass and surfact temperature. Bigger, hotter stars will glow blue-white and smaller, cooler stars will glow orange-red. However, it also depends on the elements which make up their structure. All elements will emit light as photons when the electrons which make up the outer parts of the atoms are excited by energy and then fall back to their normal energy level. Different elements have different characteristic energy levels so result in the release of different wavelengths and colours of light. When large stars burn up all their hydrogen, and end up containing heavier elements like oxygen, these energy levels change and they release a redder spectrum of colours.

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