Space What Color is Space?

What Color is Space?


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Tom

An Old Friend
I asked a few people what color space is?

Most said Black
Some said Clear
A few said White

Consider this.

We see space using our eyes. Eyes that have evolved in our atmosphere under the radiation of our star, Sol.
When we look up we are looking thru the atmosphere and seeing space that has been filtered by the light pollution of our sun.
The Black parts of space that we see are parts of space that our eyes can't resolve.
Given the Hubble Deep Field, It is supposed that all space is full of stars, galaxies and what-not.
Space is certainly not black.

Given that space is filled with light from distant objects. Light that our eyes can't focus on, it makes you believe that space is clear because the black you see is thought to be a region beyond what you can see. "I can See Beyond the stars and it is black way out there" You think that because you see black beyond the stars that outside the Universe it is black. Thus, you think that space is clear.

Some people, people that understand the Hubble Deep Field, will say space is white. It is filled with stars and even tho you can't see them they are still there. This is correct in a way. It is also incorrect in a way.

All stars emit their unique wavelength of light. Light that strikes objects and has parts of it absorbed. That reflected light then continues on until it strikes another object that absorbs a different part. All the way to your eye. A blue light makes it to your eye and you see blue. That blue light is still present whether you detect it or not. Space is Multi-colored. We can't see beyond the source of light because those sources saturate our view, everywhere. We have no idea what color outside the Universe really is. We have never looked there.
 
My new friends (including Tom), I'm glad to see this topic. You are correct in your ruminations. Space may seem to appear black only because black is the absence of all color-- which is why, if we can say that space is a color at all, we must consider the fact that White is the presence of all colors. (Note Gandalph of Many Colors = Gandalph the White.) My name is Brucke; I'm new here.
 
I'm going with clear since wouldn't true "space" be the absence of everything (including light wave spectrum)?
 
I'm going with clear since wouldn't true "space" be the absence of everything (including light wave spectrum)?
When I first thought about this topic in bed one night I was sure the color would be clear. As I was thinking on it as to how to word the topic my mind reasoned that if light is emitted in a sphere from every source, and photons are both mass and energy, there is no place in space that is completely void of light.
Knowing the implications of the Hubble Deep Field view, there are stars and light from stars and galaxies in every patch of space. No matter which angle you look, there is something out there between your eye and the edge of the Universe. Just because the eye can't resolve it as an image doesn't prohibit the fact that there is something there.
Likewise, in close proximity, space appears clear because the eye cannot focus on the particles and protons per sqcm of the solar wind. Just like air appears to be clear right in front of you.
I wonder if fish see the ocean as clear?
 
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