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Would Colors Be Perceived Differently By Humans On a Planet Orbiting a Different Type of Star Than Our Sun?

-- Brian | April 12, 2021

Question:

Dear Jeff:

Would colors of objects/people/animals be perceived differently under a different type of star, e.g., brown, yellow or white dwarfs?

My understanding is that different stars emit a unique spectrum of light frequencies due in part to the components of the star. The human brain is accustomed to a color spectrum of ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet).and interprets them correctly. However if the color spectrum of the star was a different set of colors (due to different frequencies) or didn’t possess all of those color frequencies, it would affect on our capacity to perceive colors under that star.

Is that correct? Do we know?

Looking forward to reading your expertise on the matter.

Thank you,
Brian

-- Brian

Answer:

Although it is true that the sensitivity of the human eye to different frequencies of light is consistent with the peak of the light output from our Sun, it is not clear whether this consistency is due completely to evolution of the human eye. The sensitivity of our eyes is probably more strongly determined by the chemistry in the human eye. For example, long-wavelength infrared light doesn’t have the energy to excite most molecular energy levels in the human eye, and short-wavelength ultraviolet light is energetic enough to risk destroying the photosensitive molecules in the human eye completely. So, if the color spectrum of the star around which humans on a planet orbit emitted its light at a different set of frequencies, it would likely affect our capacity to perceive colors as humans do on Earth.

-- Jeff Mangum

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