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image credit: Nigel Sharp (NSF), FTS, NSO, KPNO, AURA, NSF



it is still not known why the Sun's light is missing some colors

here are all the visible colors of the Sun, produced by passing the Sun's light through a prism-like device

the spectrum was created at the McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory and shows, first off, that although our white-appearing Sun emits light of nearly every color, it does indeed appear brightest in yellow-green light

the dark patches in the above spectrum arise from gas at or above the Sun's surface absorbing sunlight emitted below

since different types of gas absorb different colors of light, it is possible to determine what gasses compose the Sun

Helium, for example, was first discovered in 1870 on a solar spectrum and only later found here on Earth

today, the majority of spectral absorption lines have been identified - but not all





























in apod.nasa.gov/apod