Cosmic wallpaper is a greener shade of pale
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Stephen Hawking once speculated that we may one day know the mind of God. Astronomers yesterday came a shade closer by revealing God's colour scheme for the heavens.
A study of the light emitted by nearly 200,000 galaxies has found that the ethereal equivalent of magnolia turns out to be a slightly greener shade of pale turquoise.
The astronomers who discovered the colour call it "cosmic spectrum" because it represents the average shade for the light emitted within our neighbourhood of the universe.
Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry from Johns Hopkins University told the American Astronomical Association in Washington how they collected cosmic light wavelengths and computed the red-green-blue response of the human eye.
The end result is "the colour you would see if you were to view all the light in the universe together," Professor Glazebrook said.
"The colour is quite close to the standard shade 'pale turquoise' although it is a few per cent greener, the eye can easily tell. By eye the colour appears to lie between 'medium aquamarine' and 'pale turquoise'," he said.
The scientists surveyed 166,000 galaxies, using telescopes at the Anglo-Australian Observatory near Coonabarabran, eastern Australia.
One implication of the research is that as the universe ant its stars age the cosmic wallpaper will become greener.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments