Ha ha, "white" is relative, isn't it. It's why we have white-point controls on our cameras/software.
I suppose the physics answer is, it is the color that a black-body incandesces at for the given temperature of the Sun.
A cop-out answer now that I typed it out and re-read it....
Honestly though, my answer to "what color is the sun" would depend on the audience. I would tell the 5-year old the sun is yellow but when you get older you'll find it is more complicated than that.
> "white" is relative, isn't it. It's why we have white-point controls on our cameras/software.
There is a region of chromaticities than can be accommodated as untinted white (think the center of an RGB triangle). And the Sun is around the center of it. So yes it's relative ("the Sun is a G2-class yellow star"... relative to noticeably-blueish-but-we'll-use-it-as-our-white-point-anyway-because-reasons Vega). But perceptually untinted leaves you with kind of narrow bounds. You notice 4500 K lighting as warm, even if you still see paper under it as white.
> a black-body [...] A cop-out answer
:) That's why the 5-year old was added to the question long ago. They don't completely stop answers of "5800 K!", but permit easily moving on with a "Um, 5-year old?"
> I would tell the 5-year old the sun is yellow
But... the Sun as big ball isn't, and the Sun seen in sky generally isn't. So social convention over reality? Unless... the 5-year is from Vega?
I suppose the physics answer is, it is the color that a black-body incandesces at for the given temperature of the Sun.
A cop-out answer now that I typed it out and re-read it....
Honestly though, my answer to "what color is the sun" would depend on the audience. I would tell the 5-year old the sun is yellow but when you get older you'll find it is more complicated than that.