Colours of the planets: quick answers<\/strong><\/h2>- Mercury:<\/strong> grey<\/li>
- Venus:<\/strong> golden brown<\/li>
- Earth:<\/strong> blue<\/li>
- Mars:<\/strong> red<\/li>
- Jupiter:<\/strong> yellow, brown, red<\/li>
- Saturn:<\/strong> yellow, brown, grey<\/li>
- Uranus:<\/strong> cyan<\/li>
- Neptune:<\/strong> blue<\/li><\/ul>
Colours of the planets explained<\/strong><\/h2>Earth<\/strong><\/h2>![\"Earth](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/05\/true-shape-earth-534c127.jpeg\")
Earth is known as the ‘blue planet’ for obvious reasons! Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>Take our own Earth, for instance. From space, it appears as a small blue dot.<\/p>
But that\u2019s largely a result of its atmosphere, and the huge proportion of its surface that\u2019s covered with liquid water.<\/p>
The actual ground beneath your feet may appear sandy coloured if you\u2019re at the beach, grey if you\u2019re trudging wearily down city streets, or green if you\u2019re out in a field \u2013 or, indeed, peering down at the BBC Sky at Night Magazine office carpet.<\/p>
Mercury<\/strong><\/h2>![\"View](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/07\/TrueMercury-a57f301-e1689756474102-1024x691.jpg?fit=800%2C540\")
View of Mercury captured by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Credit: Source: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Carnegie<\/figcaption><\/figure>Starting with Mercury<\/a>, then\u2026 the innermost planet can be hard to photograph, being so close to the Sun.<\/p>But what images we have of Mercury reveal a pockmarked grey surface similar to that of our own Moon.<\/p>
We received amazing images of the planet courtesy of Bepi Colombo’s flyby of Mercury in June 2024<\/a>.<\/p>Mercury’s grey colour is understandable because it\u2019s similarly composed mostly of iron, nickel and silicates.<\/p>
And because Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, it will appear grey whether viewed through a telescope or from ground-level.<\/p>
Venus<\/strong><\/h2>![\"Venus\u2019s](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/09\/Magellan-Venus-image-6b26c4b.jpg\")
Venus\u2019s northern hemisphere, as seen by NASA\u2019s Magellan probe. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>Venus<\/a>, on the other hand, would also look greyish if you were standing on the surface.<\/p>But Venus’s atmosphere<\/a> is dense and replete with blue light-absorbing clouds of sulphuric acid, so when viewed through a telescope, it has a golden, orange-y hue.<\/p>From the ground, at its best Venus looks like a bright star visibile in the morning or early evening, which is why Venus is known as the morning or evening star<\/a>.<\/p>Mars<\/strong><\/h2>![\"Mars](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/03\/mars-red-planet-50a6752.jpg\")
Mars is known as the Red Planet. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>Mars<\/a>, of course, is known as the Red Planet for a reason, in that it appears undeniably red even through small telescopes on Earth.<\/p>Being rich in iron oxide, the Martian regolith is indeed a kind of reddish, sandy colour \u2013 and like Mercury, its thin atmosphere means the colour on the ground is also what we see from space.<\/p>
You can find out more about why this is the case in our guide Why is Mars red<\/a>?<\/p>Jupiter and Saturn<\/strong><\/h2>![\"A](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/12\/jupiter-shifting-belts-1024x683.jpg?fit=800%2C534\")
A view of Jupiter, it’s belts and zones and Great Red Spot. Credit: Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>Things get more complicated when you move out to Jupiter and Saturn, because these gas giants don\u2019t have a solid surface you could stand on.<\/p>
They\u2019re comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium, and it\u2019s the relative proportions of these gases (along with clouds of other trace elements) that give the planets, when viewed from Earth, their distinctive banded, grey-and-brown appearance.<\/p>
Jupiter<\/a> appears to have yellow and brown stripes, and is covered with swirling white and red storms (including its biggest bright red storm the Great Red Spot<\/a>).<\/p>![\"Image](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/12\/hubble-saturn-ring-spokes-hero-1024x427.jpg?fit=800%2C334\")
Image of Saturn captured by the Hubble Space Telescope showing its pastel-coloured bands and grey rings. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Saturn<\/a> exhibits pastel colours in stripes and bands much more subtle than those of Jupiter: yellow, grey, and brown.<\/p>And of course, Saturn boasts those marvellous rings<\/a> that appear different shades of grey.<\/p>Uranus and Neptune<\/strong><\/h2>![\"uranus](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/07\/uranus-neptune-eff5357.jpg\")
Uranus and Neptune as traditionally depicted, Neptune on the right being a deeper blue. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>Uranus and Neptune<\/a> are also composed mostly of gases, but unlike Jupiter and Saturn those gases include significant quantities of methane and ammonia.<\/p>Its these elements (plus the presence of large quantities of various ices) that give Uranus and Neptune their blue-ish hues.<\/p>![\"HST\/STIS](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/01\/uranus-neptune-similar-colours-1024x683.jpg?fit=800%2C534\")
HST\/STIS images of Uranus (left) and Neptune (right) from 2002 and 2003, respectively, processed for true colour for study ‘Modelling the seasonal cycle of Uranus\u2019s colour and magnitude, and comparison with Neptune’, Patrick G.J. Irwin et al.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Uranus<\/a> is an almost undifferentiated shade of pale cyan while Neptune<\/a>\u2019s deeper darker blue is scattered with white storm clouds.<\/p>And while Uranus and Neptune are different colours<\/a>, a study released in January 2024 found that Uranus and Neptune are actually more similar in colour than originally thought<\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":53406,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-768x547.jpg",768,547,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-1024x730.jpg",800,570,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/53405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Colours of the planets explained<\/strong><\/h2>Earth<\/strong><\/h2>Earth is known as the ‘blue planet’ for obvious reasons! Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>Take our own Earth, for instance. From space, it appears as a small blue dot.<\/p>
But that\u2019s largely a result of its atmosphere, and the huge proportion of its surface that\u2019s covered with liquid water.<\/p>
The actual ground beneath your feet may appear sandy coloured if you\u2019re at the beach, grey if you\u2019re trudging wearily down city streets, or green if you\u2019re out in a field \u2013 or, indeed, peering down at the BBC Sky at Night Magazine office carpet.<\/p>
Mercury<\/strong><\/h2>View of Mercury captured by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Credit: Source: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Carnegie<\/figcaption><\/figure>Starting with Mercury<\/a>, then\u2026 the innermost planet can be hard to photograph, being so close to the Sun.<\/p>But what images we have of Mercury reveal a pockmarked grey surface similar to that of our own Moon.<\/p>
We received amazing images of the planet courtesy of Bepi Colombo’s flyby of Mercury in June 2024<\/a>.<\/p>Mercury’s grey colour is understandable because it\u2019s similarly composed mostly of iron, nickel and silicates.<\/p>
And because Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, it will appear grey whether viewed through a telescope or from ground-level.<\/p>
Venus<\/strong><\/h2>Venus\u2019s northern hemisphere, as seen by NASA\u2019s Magellan probe. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>Venus<\/a>, on the other hand, would also look greyish if you were standing on the surface.<\/p>But Venus’s atmosphere<\/a> is dense and replete with blue light-absorbing clouds of sulphuric acid, so when viewed through a telescope, it has a golden, orange-y hue.<\/p>From the ground, at its best Venus looks like a bright star visibile in the morning or early evening, which is why Venus is known as the morning or evening star<\/a>.<\/p>Mars<\/strong><\/h2>Mars is known as the Red Planet. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>Mars<\/a>, of course, is known as the Red Planet for a reason, in that it appears undeniably red even through small telescopes on Earth.<\/p>Being rich in iron oxide, the Martian regolith is indeed a kind of reddish, sandy colour \u2013 and like Mercury, its thin atmosphere means the colour on the ground is also what we see from space.<\/p>
You can find out more about why this is the case in our guide Why is Mars red<\/a>?<\/p>Jupiter and Saturn<\/strong><\/h2>A view of Jupiter, it’s belts and zones and Great Red Spot. Credit: Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>Things get more complicated when you move out to Jupiter and Saturn, because these gas giants don\u2019t have a solid surface you could stand on.<\/p>
They\u2019re comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium, and it\u2019s the relative proportions of these gases (along with clouds of other trace elements) that give the planets, when viewed from Earth, their distinctive banded, grey-and-brown appearance.<\/p>
Jupiter<\/a> appears to have yellow and brown stripes, and is covered with swirling white and red storms (including its biggest bright red storm the Great Red Spot<\/a>).<\/p>Image of Saturn captured by the Hubble Space Telescope showing its pastel-coloured bands and grey rings. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Saturn<\/a> exhibits pastel colours in stripes and bands much more subtle than those of Jupiter: yellow, grey, and brown.<\/p>And of course, Saturn boasts those marvellous rings<\/a> that appear different shades of grey.<\/p>Uranus and Neptune<\/strong><\/h2>Uranus and Neptune as traditionally depicted, Neptune on the right being a deeper blue. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>Uranus and Neptune<\/a> are also composed mostly of gases, but unlike Jupiter and Saturn those gases include significant quantities of methane and ammonia.<\/p>Its these elements (plus the presence of large quantities of various ices) that give Uranus and Neptune their blue-ish hues.<\/p>HST\/STIS images of Uranus (left) and Neptune (right) from 2002 and 2003, respectively, processed for true colour for study ‘Modelling the seasonal cycle of Uranus\u2019s colour and magnitude, and comparison with Neptune’, Patrick G.J. Irwin et al.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Uranus<\/a> is an almost undifferentiated shade of pale cyan while Neptune<\/a>\u2019s deeper darker blue is scattered with white storm clouds.<\/p>And while Uranus and Neptune are different colours<\/a>, a study released in January 2024 found that Uranus and Neptune are actually more similar in colour than originally thought<\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":53406,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-768x547.jpg",768,547,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-1024x730.jpg",800,570,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/53405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Take our own Earth, for instance. From space, it appears as a small blue dot.<\/p>
But that\u2019s largely a result of its atmosphere, and the huge proportion of its surface that\u2019s covered with liquid water.<\/p>
The actual ground beneath your feet may appear sandy coloured if you\u2019re at the beach, grey if you\u2019re trudging wearily down city streets, or green if you\u2019re out in a field \u2013 or, indeed, peering down at the BBC Sky at Night Magazine office carpet.<\/p>
Mercury<\/strong><\/h2>View of Mercury captured by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Credit: Source: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Carnegie<\/figcaption><\/figure>Starting with Mercury<\/a>, then\u2026 the innermost planet can be hard to photograph, being so close to the Sun.<\/p>But what images we have of Mercury reveal a pockmarked grey surface similar to that of our own Moon.<\/p>
We received amazing images of the planet courtesy of Bepi Colombo’s flyby of Mercury in June 2024<\/a>.<\/p>Mercury’s grey colour is understandable because it\u2019s similarly composed mostly of iron, nickel and silicates.<\/p>
And because Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, it will appear grey whether viewed through a telescope or from ground-level.<\/p>
Venus<\/strong><\/h2>Venus\u2019s northern hemisphere, as seen by NASA\u2019s Magellan probe. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>Venus<\/a>, on the other hand, would also look greyish if you were standing on the surface.<\/p>But Venus’s atmosphere<\/a> is dense and replete with blue light-absorbing clouds of sulphuric acid, so when viewed through a telescope, it has a golden, orange-y hue.<\/p>From the ground, at its best Venus looks like a bright star visibile in the morning or early evening, which is why Venus is known as the morning or evening star<\/a>.<\/p>Mars<\/strong><\/h2>Mars is known as the Red Planet. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>Mars<\/a>, of course, is known as the Red Planet for a reason, in that it appears undeniably red even through small telescopes on Earth.<\/p>Being rich in iron oxide, the Martian regolith is indeed a kind of reddish, sandy colour \u2013 and like Mercury, its thin atmosphere means the colour on the ground is also what we see from space.<\/p>
You can find out more about why this is the case in our guide Why is Mars red<\/a>?<\/p>Jupiter and Saturn<\/strong><\/h2>A view of Jupiter, it’s belts and zones and Great Red Spot. Credit: Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS<\/figcaption><\/figure>Things get more complicated when you move out to Jupiter and Saturn, because these gas giants don\u2019t have a solid surface you could stand on.<\/p>
They\u2019re comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium, and it\u2019s the relative proportions of these gases (along with clouds of other trace elements) that give the planets, when viewed from Earth, their distinctive banded, grey-and-brown appearance.<\/p>
Jupiter<\/a> appears to have yellow and brown stripes, and is covered with swirling white and red storms (including its biggest bright red storm the Great Red Spot<\/a>).<\/p>Image of Saturn captured by the Hubble Space Telescope showing its pastel-coloured bands and grey rings. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Saturn<\/a> exhibits pastel colours in stripes and bands much more subtle than those of Jupiter: yellow, grey, and brown.<\/p>And of course, Saturn boasts those marvellous rings<\/a> that appear different shades of grey.<\/p>Uranus and Neptune<\/strong><\/h2>Uranus and Neptune as traditionally depicted, Neptune on the right being a deeper blue. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>Uranus and Neptune<\/a> are also composed mostly of gases, but unlike Jupiter and Saturn those gases include significant quantities of methane and ammonia.<\/p>Its these elements (plus the presence of large quantities of various ices) that give Uranus and Neptune their blue-ish hues.<\/p>HST\/STIS images of Uranus (left) and Neptune (right) from 2002 and 2003, respectively, processed for true colour for study ‘Modelling the seasonal cycle of Uranus\u2019s colour and magnitude, and comparison with Neptune’, Patrick G.J. Irwin et al.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Uranus<\/a> is an almost undifferentiated shade of pale cyan while Neptune<\/a>\u2019s deeper darker blue is scattered with white storm clouds.<\/p>And while Uranus and Neptune are different colours<\/a>, a study released in January 2024 found that Uranus and Neptune are actually more similar in colour than originally thought<\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":53406,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-768x547.jpg",768,547,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-1024x730.jpg",800,570,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/53405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Starting with Mercury<\/a>, then\u2026 the innermost planet can be hard to photograph, being so close to the Sun.<\/p> But what images we have of Mercury reveal a pockmarked grey surface similar to that of our own Moon.<\/p> We received amazing images of the planet courtesy of Bepi Colombo’s flyby of Mercury in June 2024<\/a>.<\/p> Mercury’s grey colour is understandable because it\u2019s similarly composed mostly of iron, nickel and silicates.<\/p> And because Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, it will appear grey whether viewed through a telescope or from ground-level.<\/p> Venus<\/a>, on the other hand, would also look greyish if you were standing on the surface.<\/p> But Venus’s atmosphere<\/a> is dense and replete with blue light-absorbing clouds of sulphuric acid, so when viewed through a telescope, it has a golden, orange-y hue.<\/p> From the ground, at its best Venus looks like a bright star visibile in the morning or early evening, which is why Venus is known as the morning or evening star<\/a>.<\/p> Mars<\/a>, of course, is known as the Red Planet for a reason, in that it appears undeniably red even through small telescopes on Earth.<\/p> Being rich in iron oxide, the Martian regolith is indeed a kind of reddish, sandy colour \u2013 and like Mercury, its thin atmosphere means the colour on the ground is also what we see from space.<\/p> You can find out more about why this is the case in our guide Why is Mars red<\/a>?<\/p> Things get more complicated when you move out to Jupiter and Saturn, because these gas giants don\u2019t have a solid surface you could stand on.<\/p> They\u2019re comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium, and it\u2019s the relative proportions of these gases (along with clouds of other trace elements) that give the planets, when viewed from Earth, their distinctive banded, grey-and-brown appearance.<\/p> Jupiter<\/a> appears to have yellow and brown stripes, and is covered with swirling white and red storms (including its biggest bright red storm the Great Red Spot<\/a>).<\/p> Saturn<\/a> exhibits pastel colours in stripes and bands much more subtle than those of Jupiter: yellow, grey, and brown.<\/p> And of course, Saturn boasts those marvellous rings<\/a> that appear different shades of grey.<\/p> Uranus and Neptune<\/a> are also composed mostly of gases, but unlike Jupiter and Saturn those gases include significant quantities of methane and ammonia.<\/p> Its these elements (plus the presence of large quantities of various ices) that give Uranus and Neptune their blue-ish hues.<\/p> Uranus<\/a> is an almost undifferentiated shade of pale cyan while Neptune<\/a>\u2019s deeper darker blue is scattered with white storm clouds.<\/p> And while Uranus and Neptune are different colours<\/a>, a study released in January 2024 found that Uranus and Neptune are actually more similar in colour than originally thought<\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":53406,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-768x547.jpg",768,547,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them-1024x730.jpg",800,570,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/01\/the-colours-of-the-solar-system-planets-and-what-causes-them.jpg",1200,855,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What colour are the planets and why are their apparent hues so different?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/53405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Venus<\/strong><\/h2>
Mars<\/strong><\/h2>
Jupiter and Saturn<\/strong><\/h2>
Uranus and Neptune<\/strong><\/h2>
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