Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 December 27

               Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe
              Color Credit: Karl Glazebrook & Ivan Baldry (JHU)

   Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire
   sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical
   question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in
   nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above, is a conditionally
   perceived shade of beige. In computer parlance: #FFF8E7. To determine
   this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of
   the larger samples of galaxies analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies of the
   2dF survey. The resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all
   parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite
   color. This color has become much less blue over the past 10 billion
   years, indicating that redder stars are becoming more prevalent. In a
   contest to better name the color, notable entries included skyvory,
   univeige, and the winner: cosmic latte.

     Gallery: Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD
                       Tomorrow's picture: eagle space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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