Say humans lived on other planets in solar systems with a different category/colored star/sun. How would the color/radiation of the star affect how they perceive colors? For example, would the perception of white be different? How so? I read this article and became curious as to how it might apply to life on other planets around a different sun. http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~kgb/cosspec/
For example, if humans developed on a planet with a blue star, would OUR white look more blue to them? I would appreciate answers that compare their color perception to ours, and how the color of each star category would affect how colors are perceived differently on a general color basis, and on a 'white point' basis. Thank you guys for your time and knowledge!
How would the color of a star affect how life on a planet in its system might perceive colors?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by Aeliana
- Topics:
- life, color, vision, human, star, perception, solar, different, planet, system, solar system, sun, planets, humans, eyes, radiation, humanoid, exoplanet
Details:
Responses (1)
Imagine you are in a room that is lit by a red light. You would be unable to see the color blue. And if the light were red, it would be the other way around. The eyes perception of colors is complely contained within the brain. People in other countries percive colors in different ways. For example, some people in Africa percive the sky as black. It completely depends on the way the culture has been brought up to perceive colors. If an alien race came from a solar system with a blue star (asuming they could survive on our planet and could perceive colors as us) Their nervous system would not be able to process certain colors because evolution didnt require it to be so. But assuming all of those things were not even involved and they would probably be in shock of all of the new colors they were seeing. But that wouldnt happen because we only perceive the colors useful for us to see. If they lived on a planet lit by blue light, they would see similarly on our planet.
It really isn't possible for us to accurately perceive what they would see considering whenever we see ultraviolet displayed, it is translated into a color we can see. Humans simply can't comprehend this. There really is no definite answer. Although, if i had to guess, i would say if they could see both ultra violet and our spectrum, they would most likely see whatever color ultraviolet is, along with the colors of our world. It would probably be very light. Imagine looking through night vision all of the time but without the green color. Hard for the human mind to imagine but that is something like what they would see. Very intense in the light, and they would be able to see in the dark. As for gamma rays . . . . . . i can't say much on the subject because i am do not have much knowledge in that area. sorry.
And in the situation of another star, it would reflect different light. This would not allow us to see ultra violet or gamma but there still might not be all of the frequencies we are used to. It brings me back to my "blue light" subject. Another light isn't going to change if we see ultra violet. To test this, cut off a room from all sunlight, and light it with a certain color. No matter what, you won't be able to perceive ultra violet . . . . . without special tools that is.
You've answered my questions wonderfully! Thank you so much! Oh, my mind is whirling after reading articles that are similar to your answer. You're brilliant, thank you so much! If you don't mind me asking, was it personal research/interest that has taught you this, or do you have a profession in the area? Just curious! ;D
It is just me being interested in the subject. I'm not an expert. I'm only 18 but thank you for the praise.
Thank you so much for responding, but I'd like to intrude on your idea some more if you wouldn't mind.
Our star is yellow, and yet, we can see ROYGBIV. Is the light that our star radiates filtered through our atmosphere in a way that is appears white, which would allow us to see these colors? We cannot see into gamma and ultraviolet, because we do not have the necessary color receptors in our eyes. Would humanoid life's perception of color depend on their eyes' receptors more or the light they receive?
Say an alien was raised here on our planet. They had different/more color receptors in their eyes, but processed the same light as us: Would blue still appear blue to them? Saying, of course they didn't see ultraviolet or gamma like us. I hope I'm making sense. ^.^