Cosmic latte - Wikipedia

submited by
Style Pass
2024-10-29 23:30:14

Cosmic latte is the average color of the galaxies of the universe as perceived from the Earth, found by a team of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University (JHU). In 2002, Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry determined that the average color of the universe was a greenish white, but they soon corrected their analysis in a 2003 paper in which they reported that their survey of the light from over 200,000 galaxies averaged to a slightly beigeish white.[ 2] The hex triplet value for cosmic latte is #FFF8E7.

Finding the average colour of the universe was not the focus of the study. Rather, the study examined spectral analysis of different galaxies to study star formation. Like Fraunhofer lines, the dark lines displayed in the study's spectral ranges display older and younger stars and allow Glazebrook and Baldry to determine the age of different galaxies and star systems. What the study revealed is that the overwhelming majority of stars formed about 5 billion years ago. Because these stars would have been "brighter" in the past, the color of the universe changes over time, shifting from blue to red as more blue stars change to yellow and eventually red giants.

As light from distant galaxies reaches the Earth, the average "color of the universe" (as seen from Earth) tends towards pure white, due to the light coming from the stars when they were much younger and bluer.[ 3]

Leave a Comment