Why are faint stars perceived as white, regardless of their true physical color like blue?
Answer
At the low light levels provided by most stars, the color-sensitive cones are not sufficiently activated, and only the rods register presence.
The perception of color in the human visual system is heavily dependent on light intensity. The eyes contain cones, which are responsible for color discrimination, and rods, which handle low-light vision (brightness perception). For the majority of stars that appear faint in the night sky, the incoming light is insufficient to trigger the cones effectively. Consequently, only the rods register the incoming signal, leading the brain to perceive the object purely as white, even if its physical emission spectrum indicates a strong blue or red tint.
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