Now there's an interesting shot! (2009 Nov 1)

[nz1m]

Color? Additive color? Subtractive color? Transmissive color? Reflective color? Is black a color? In reflective coloring it is. In spectral color is it? I'd suspect a lot of analytics and math when in to determining the exact "color" of the electromatic spectral spectrum. But the brain, the TV, the computer, printing requires additive black, or mixing RGB or CMYK to generate black. Then there is spot black. There are shades of black, usually referred to as percentages of black and white mixed together. Or 100% tiny black dots spaced appropriately over a white background to give the allusion of gray.

So for the sake of this argument, and this beige calculation, let's call it the COLOR of LIGHT, not just color. What say you?

[apodman]

What say you?

I live in the RGB world of the screen before me, so I am comfortable calling colors by their RGB values. But all the while I know the RGB color value in this APOD represents a frequency or distribution of frequencies along a spectrum, and that the conversion from frequency to RGB is messy, incomplete, and imperfect in a number of ways. Volumes have been written on the issues you have touched upon, but I'm happy with an approximation that fits the format of my RGB brain and leave it at that. You may call it what you like.

[geckzilla]

You can call it "the color of light" and have it in RGB space at the same time since RGB is additive, or, light based.

[bystander]

Color? Additive color? Subtractive color? Transmissive color? Reflective color? Is black a color? In reflective coloring it is. In spectral color is it? I'd suspect a lot of analytics and math when in to determining the exact "color" of the electromatic spectral spectrum. But the brain, the TV, the computer, printing requires additive black, or mixing RGB or CMYK to generate black. Then there is spot black. There are shades of black, usually referred to as percentages of black and white mixed together. Or 100% tiny black dots spaced appropriately over a white background to give the allusion of gray.

So for the sake of this argument, and this beige calculation, let's call it the COLOR of LIGHT, not just color. What say you?

It's all the COLOR of LIGHT, or rather the way we see light. Without light, there would be no color. Even in subtractive (reflective) color (CMYK), the color is the color of light reflected. With color pigments, when you apply a Cyan tint to a surface, you are really applying a filter so that all the red light is absorbed and not reflected. In any case, black is the complete absence of color. In additive (transmissive) color (RGB), black is when no light is emitted. In subtractive, no light is reflected. In terms of RGB, black is 000000. There is only one shade of black, any thing else is just gray scale.

[nz1m]

Perhaps it is our "definition" of the color light that is confusing. We describe it in simple terms like RGB, CMYK, Pantone, etc. One could ask if the absence of "color" is also "part of our universe"? You have to admit that we all see black. We see these black pixels (or absence of transmissive RBG) on this screen we're reading. It is this absence of light that is the MOST important here. So, logically, one can theorize that without black, there is indeed nothing - therefore no universe. So I ask again - using the beige definition - are we defining the "color of the universe" or the "color of light" in the universe?

[NoelC]

Color is still among the most subjective of "sciences". Even today, with modern display technology and calibrators, what you see is not always what was intended.

I find it fascinating that the color of the universe closely resembles the color of office equipment... That people think of beige as boring... Does this say that our sensibilities are well-aligned with the universe; that we are most sensitive to what's new and different?

We are so very clearly children of this universe.

Here's a question that will bake your noodle: Was it the same color yesterday, or have all our perceptions been changed by the operators of the Grand Overall Dimensional simulation to perceive what we see today to suit some grand purpose? Some grand social scientific experiment, perhaps? Were Robert's and Jerry's hands "divinely" guided in putting up this image just to see how we would all react?

Will the experiment be over when we discov

[bystander]

So I ask again - using the beige definition - are we defining the "color of the universe" or the "color of light" in the universe?

I guess you could say it is the average color of that 4.6% of normal matter in the universe that is radiating emr in those wavelengths we humans consider to be visible. If we could see in other spectrums, I suppose the color would be different. Even still, black is the absence of visible emr, and as such, we really can't see it. You can't see what's not there. Sometimes you can't even see what is there (dark matter / dark energy).

Cosmic latte is a name assigned in 2002 to the average color of the universe (derived from a sampling of the electromagnetic radiation from 200,000 galaxies), given by a team of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University.

What color would it be to a Mantis Shrimp?

[Star*Hopper]

I've long understood there is no such thing as an absolute, pure 'black' in the universe. Pure black is a theory.
I took that to mean as long as there's a single photon of light floating around, there can be no absolute black.

[apodman]

If the average colour in the universe is beige, then why does it look mostly black?

rhetorical question...

Maybe it's a rhetorical question to you, but some people might not know the answer yet, so here's a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27_paradox

[apodman]

I was forever copying and pasting images into a program where I could use a tool to identify a color. In my travels this morning I ran into this utility some might find handy. I'm not a salesman for the company, and it's free anyway. It's a minuscule (11K) download for Windows 2000, XP, or Vista. When you run it, a little box appears on your screen that continuously shows the current mouse cursor pixel location and color in hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK and HSV values. So now I can leave a picture right where it is and identify the colors.

http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php

[geckzilla]

It's been a while since this APOD last ran. Strangely, I thought it happened much more recently than 2009, but anyway, I am resurrecting this post to link to an article Brian Koberlein posted recently. He shares a few interesting details about the challenges of discovering the cosmic latte.
https://briankoberlein.com/2014/07/23/cosmic-latte/