Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Green is the colour

By Eugenie Samuel

19 January 2002

Washington DC

ASTRONOMERS have discovered the Universe’s true colour—it’s somewhere
between pale turquoise and aquamarine. This finding is helping them trace the
history of star formation.

Ivan Baldry and Karl Glazebrook from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
identified the universal hue by bringing together light from over 200,000
galaxies within 2 billion light years of Earth.

Combining the light gave a peak in the blue part of the optical spectrum,
from the large number of young stars burning hydrogen, and another in the red
part of the spectrum, which comes from the glow of older red giants burning…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop