Cosmic latte

Cosmic latte is the average colour of the universe, found by a team of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University. In 2001, Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry determined that the average color of the universe was a greenish white, but they soon corrected their analysis in a 2002 paper in which they reported that their survey of the light from over 200,000 galaxies averaged to a slightly beigeish white.[2] The hex triplet value for cosmic latte is #FFF8E7.

Cosmic latte
 
    Color coordinates
Hex triplet#FFF8E7
sRGBB  (r, g, b)(255, 248, 231)
CMYKH   (c, m, y, k)(0, 2.7, 9.6, 0)
HSV       (h, s, v)(40°, 9.4%, 90%)
SourceJHU
ISCC–NBS descriptorPale yellow green
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)
Due to flawed calculations, the average color of the universe was originally thought to be turquoise.[1]
Cosmic spectrum green 

Discovery of the color

Finding the average color of the universe was not the focus of the study. Rather, the study examined spectral analysis of different galaxies to study star formation. Like Fraunhofer lines, the dark lines displayed in the study's spectral ranges display older and younger stars and allow Glazebrook and Baldry to determine the age of different galaxies and star systems. What the study revealed is that the overwhelming majority of stars formed about 5 billion years ago. Because these stars would have been "brighter" in the past, the color of the universe changes over time shifting from blue to red as more blue stars change to yellow and eventually red giants.

As light from distant galaxies reaches the Earth, the average "color of the universe" (as seen from Earth) tends towards pure white, due to the light coming from the stars when they were much younger and bluer.[3]

Naming of the color

The corrected color was initially published on the Johns Hopkins News website and updated on the team's initial announcement.[4] Multiple news outlets, including NPR and BBC, displayed the color in stories[5] and some relayed the request by Glazebrook on the announcement asking for suggestions for names, jokingly adding all were welcome as long as they were not "beige".[6][7]

These were the results of a vote of the JHU astronomers involved based on the new color:[8]

Color nameCreditVotes
Cosmic LattePeter Drum6
Cappuccino CosmicoPeter Drum17
Big Bang Buff/Blush/BeigeSeveral entrants13
Cosmic CreamSeveral entrants8
Astronomer GreenUnknown8
Astronomer AlmondLisa Rose7
SkyvoryMichael Howard7
UniveigeSeveral entrants6
Cosmic KhakiUnknown5
Primordial Clam ChowderUnknown4

Though Drum's suggestion of "cappuccino cosmico" received the most votes, the researchers favored Drum's other suggestion, "cosmic latte". This is because the similar "Latteo" means "Milky" in Italian, Galileo's native language. It also leads to the similarity to the Italian term for the Milky Way, "Via Lattea", and they enjoyed the fact that the color would be similar to the Milky Way's average color as well, as it is part of the sum of the universe.[8][9] They also claimed to be "caffeine biased".[3]

References
  1. Associated Press. "Universe: Beige, not Turquoise". Wired. Wired. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  2. Baldry, Ivan K.; Glazebrook, Karl; Baugh, Carlton M.; Bland‐hawthorn, Joss; Bridges, Terry; Cannon, Russell; Cole, Shaun; Colless, Matthew; Collins, Chris (2002). "The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: Constraints on Cosmic Star Formation History from the Cosmic Spectrum". The Astrophysical Journal. The American Astronomical Society (published 20 April 2002). 569 (2): 582–594. arXiv:astro-ph/0110676. Bibcode:2002ApJ...569..582B. doi:10.1086/339477.
  3. Glazebrook, Karl. "The Cosmic Spectrum". www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  4. "Headlines@Hopkins: Johns Hopkins University News Releases". www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  5. Valentine, Vikki. "NPR : The Color of the Universe Is..." www.npr.org. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  6. "Universe is off colour". news.bbc.co.uk. 8 March 2002. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  7. "Universe: Beige, not Turquoise". WIRED. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  8. "The Cosmic Spectrum". 5 October 2002. Archived from the original on 5 October 2002. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  9. "SCIENCE". The Washington Post. 1 July 2002. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
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