Monday, 23 April 2012

the sun - Are we still going to have rainbows if Sun is replaced by another star?

Rainbows would lack most blue, and some green for red stars.
For a blue star, the blue part of the rainbow would be more intense.



For more complex colors, the rainbow may show some gaps. A rainbow is essentially a spectrum of that star light portion, which is visible to our eyes, and to which the atmosphere is transparent.



Stars vary in brightness. A blue giant would be large and glaring, a red dwarf faint.



Colors in the rainbow would be blurred, hence closer to white, for large stars, and sharper, more distinct, for small stars, according to the angular size of the respective light source.



... This all assumes, that there is still rain. With small, red stars, it would get too cold for rain. With large blue stars, Earth would heat up too much.
To adjust for these effects, the distance to the star would need to be modified.
And of course, the length of a year, and the orbital velocity may change.
This could then cause different tides, changes in volcanism, etc.



Exchanging the star could cause various other effects, too, other polar lights, effects to the ionosphere, the ozone layer, atmospheric erosion, more...

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