Color is essential to telling planets’ and stars’ stories. By measuring the exact color of celestial bodies, scientists can learn about the age, chemical composition and temperature of these forms without traveling hundreds of thousands of miles. Spectrophotometers allow scientists to accurately and objectively measure the color of astronomical bodies no matter their distance, so we can learn more about the galaxy we inhabit. 

What Colors Are in Space? 

Space has a great spectrum of colors regarding celestial bodies, and celestial bodies are typically assorted into a spectral class according to their hue. Celestial bodies go through phases of spectral evolution where they behave similarly to iron heated in a fire. Throughout their evolutionary phases, they will shift from red to orange, yellow, white, or blue as they reach their hottest phases. Depending on trace amounts of elements — aside from hydrogen and helium — stars may appear in cooler secondary colors like purple and green. 

Stars can exhibit the following colors, in order from hottest to coldest: 

• O: Blue
• B: Blue/White
• A: White
• F: White/Yellow
• G: Yellow
• K: Orange
• M: Orange/Red

Around 88% of all stars in our universe are of the K and M variety, while G stars like the sun make up only 8% of celestial bodies. But while most of the universe may be orange and red, it’s also home to impressive blues, greens, purples, reds and whites. 

What Is Astronomical Spectroscopy?

Astronomical spectroscopy refers to the practice of determining the properties of stars by measuring their electromagnetic wavelengths. By closely examining the electromagnetic wavelengths of celestial bodies, scientists can study the percentage of helium, hydrogen and trace elements in a star, plus its age and spectral evolution phase. Astronomical spectroscopy often uses Planck’s curve to determine a star’s peak wavelength from hundreds of thousands of miles away. 

Seasonal color analysis enables fashion-conscious consumers to find clothing that’s most complementary to their features and skin tones through color psychology and color wheel analysis. Seasonal color analysis depends on color theory, which is used as a practical guide for analyzing how color works in the fashion, design and art fields.

Humans have intensely studied color since Sir Isaac Newton first learned how light refracted in the 18th century, and color theory has since evolved into a critical component of our daily lives. Today, the fashion industry still uses Carole Jackson’s seasonal color theory to create unforgettable looks and color palettes. 

What Is Seasonal Color Analysis?

Seasonal color analysis refers to the process of examining a person’s skin tone, eyes, hair and lips to create a color palette that compliments them best. The practice gained popularity in the 1980s when American color theorist Suzanne Caygill combined color psychology with seasonal palette theory.

Caygill’s model became immensely popular among color professionals and inspired psychologist Carole Jackson to write the book “Color Me Beautiful.” By creating seasonal palettes that matched her clients’ features and skin tones, Jackson inspired fashion-forward individuals to create curated wardrobes. 

In-process and in-line color measurements refer to real-time color monitoring during the manufacturing process that alerts operators when colors move out of the acceptable specifications. With in-process monitoring, operators can correct their equipment before faulty products are manufactured so little to no material is wasted. In-process color measurement is essential to saving money during the manufacturing process and keeping your brand image consistent, recognizable and reliable.

Which Industries Use In-Line Color Measurements?

Many industries use the power of in-line color measurement for quality assurance and to uphold brand standards. The six major sectors that use spectrophotometric in-line color measurements are:

• Plastics industry
• Paper industry
• Coil coating industry
• Automotive industry
• Glass and textile industries

These industries use in-line color measurement throughout the manufacturing process for quality control. For specialized requirements such as plastic extrusion molding, identifying the products’ exact shade is critical to operations, and this equipment can meet industrial requirements. By measuring in-line color, you can effectively manage demanding measurement tasks and tight tolerance standards for color identification.

In-Process and In-Line Color Measurement Capabilities

At the advent of color measurement technology, analysts used densitometers to measure process colors using predefined density filters. Different sensor models work optimally with different measurement tasks within the plastics industry, such as transparent film versus structured surfaces.

In-Line Color Measurement

With in-line color measurement systems, you can use several different features to optimize day-to-day operations:

• Accurate measurement results even on curved or structured surfaces
• Reflection spectrum comparison capabilities for unique identification
• Rapid measurement speeds
• High degree of accuracy for laboratories and various plastics industry applications

Many fears impact people’s lives. Chromophobia — also known as chromatophobia — is a fear of colors. The meaning of chromophobia derives from the Greek words “chromos” (color) and “ phobos” (fear).

Phobias of specific colors have individual names:

• Cyanophobia: Fear of blue
• Xanthophobia: Fear of yellow
• Prasinophobia: Fear of green
• Chrysophobia: Fear of orange
• Rhodophobia: Fear of pink
• Kastanophobia: Fear of brown
• Leukophobia: Fear of white
• Melanophobia: Fear of black

Causes of Chromatophobia

One prominent cause of chromophobia is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Traumatic events during childhood or adolescence can train a victim’s mind to associate a neutral stimulus with the event. With chromophobia, the mind associates the traumatic event with a particular color, which then causes a reaction when the person sees that hue.

Other causes of chromatophobia include conditioning. Some people feel an intense fear toward a color because they witness a traumatic event without experiencing it themselves. Cultural conditioning labels certain colors as unfavorable, and this can lead people to fear those hues. People with phobias do not respond to logic, as they suffer from a conditioned behavior not based on fact.

Hyperspectral spectrophotometry refers to the imaging and measurement of hyperspectral waves to analyze a material’s composition. You can use this hyperspectral data for anything from imaging and inspection applications to complex remote-sensing satellites and aircraft-based systems.

How Do Hyperspectral Spectrophotometers Work?

While humans can only observe red, green and blue color spectrums, hyperspectral spectrophotometers measure a material’s continuous spectrum of light with the power of fine wavelength resolution. This resolution captures visible light spectrums as well as those that are near-infrared. Hyperspectral spectrophotometers display this data in a hyperspectral cube format where two dimensions represent the spatial extent of the material’s composition and the third represents its spectral content.

Compared to other spectrophotometers, hyperspectral spectrophotometry observes hundreds to thousands more spectral bands and provides a narrower spectral resolution that’s only a few nanometers wide. These tools are useful for determining the wavelength resolutions of both solids and liquids in rapid time without waiting for the aid of processing systems.

Color theory is an integral part of all design processes. In short, color theory assigns a logical structure to color based on light spectrums, highlighting which colors aesthetically complement each other. When you employ the fundamentals of color theory in your design, you can create unforgettable branded products.

The Color Wheel and Color Categorization

Isaac Newton first designed the color wheel in 1666 to orient and observe the harmony of the three primary colors — yellow, blue and red. All colors are derived from a mixture of these three primary hues, which you can then use to create secondary and tertiary colors. However, certain industries may use red, green and blue or cyan, magenta and yellow as their primary colors, depending on the demands of their medium.

The primary colors — yellow, blue and red — combine to create the secondary colors green, purple and orange. No matter the orientation of the wheel, the primary colors are always across from each other and create a triangle. Colors are then categorized by complementary colors, which are located opposite each other on the color wheel. Complementary colors are great for creating eye-catching accents. However, overusing complementary colors might appear garish and overwhelming to your viewer.

You can also mix secondary colors to create tertiary colors like blue-green, blue-purple, red-purple, red-orange, yellow-green and yellow-orange. All tertiary colors are formed by mixing a half-saturated primary color with a fully saturated primary color. Learn more about other types of color mixing below.

Color is a way our eyes perceive the reflected or transmitted light from opaque and translucent objects and liquids at different wavelengths.

So how do colors work together to become what our eyes see? What are primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary colors? Explore color basics, the color wheel and color temperatures understand these interactions of color in the real world.

Diving Into the Color Wheel

The color wheel is an illustrative model that represents different color hues around a wheel. The colors are organized to demonstrate the relationships between different hues.

Originally designed in 1666 by Isaac Newton, the color wheel has three main components:

• Three primary colors — yellow, red and blue
• Three secondary colors — orange, purple and green
• Six tertiary colors — combinations of primary and secondary colors, such as blue-green

These elements move from warm colors to cool colors as you go around the wheel.