The planets in our solar system are made of many different compounds and materials. For example, the surface of Mars is made up of a lot of rusted material, like the red stuff you see on old metal, so when we look through the telescope the whole planet seems to be red. The moon is more of more grey/white rocks, so when the sun reflects its light off of the surface, we see a white moon. Uranus has a very clear atmosphere, and is covered in methane gas. That gas absorbs the color red and reflects green and blue, so that's what we see through the telescope. So it all boils down to what the planet is made of and which colors that material absorbs and reflects.

Plants are colorful because they contain chemicals called pigments. A pigment is a small molecule that absorbs certain colors of light, but reflects others.

A pigment found in most plants is called chlorophyll (which helps the plant produce energy for itself from sunlight). Chlorophyll reflects green light, which makes many plants appear green. However, many plants (like wildflowers!) contain other pigments that reflect many different colors of light, resulting in plants of many different colors.

The color of each planet is determined by what they are made up or how their atmosphere absorbs and reflects light from the sun. For instance, Mercury has a greyish brown color surface due to its rocky surface; Venus has a swirling yellow and white specks on its surface. This is due by volcanic activity all around the surface and the swirling yellow are because of sulfuric acids and the white specks are white clouds.

Earth has a blue, green, brown, and white surfaces. The blue is the vast blue oceans and beaches. The brown and green specks are the lands that we walk around. The white color are the numerous clouds you see in the sky every morning.

Mars is known as a red planet, with a red color surface covering the planet. The red color is caused by a very high level of iron oxide.

Jupiter has a thick bands of red, brown, yellow, and white color around its surface. This color is fromhydrogen, helium, and ice crystals. Saturn is made up of hydrogen and helium, however, the planet gets yellow brown color by water vapors and hydrocarbons.

Uranus and Neptune have a turquoise blue appearance because they have a lot of methane. The methane absorbs the red end of the color spectrum. Therefore, when the sunlight is bounced back to the eye, you see the blue color.

The color of a planet is revealed by the light reflected. There are two important factors to consider: what makes the planet, and the cloud (or atmosphere) around the planet.

If there is no cloud, we are directly viewing the surface of a planet. We have the gray color in moon because of the rocky surface. We have the deep blue color of our planet Earth from the deep ocean, if cloud is not blocking our view.

If there is cloud, then the color is reflected by the nature of the clouds. For example, in our planet, the clouds are white because they are made of water. The pale blue color in Uranus is because of the methane clouds. You may find different colors because the clouds are different from one planet to another.

Planets have different colors because of the chemicals that make them u. Earth is blue because most of its surface is water, which absorbs red light. Mars is red because much of its dust is made of the mineral hematite (i.e. rust), which is red. Venus is white because it is cloud-covered. And so on.

This question is really interesting because the planets are all so distinctly colored and that makes us think that there must be a reason for it, and there is! The planets get their color from the color of their surface, or if it’s think enough, the color of their atmosphere. Planets like Mercury and Mars, are covered almost entirely by rocks and sand. Since these structures are primarily grey on Mercury and red on Mars, the planets appear to be that color. Venus has a really thick atmosphere, full of clouds of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. These molecules give the planet a yellowish appearance even though the rocks underneath probably aren’t yellow. The gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) work similarly to Venus in that the planets’ color is determined by the molecules in their atmosphere. Thank you for the question!

What we actually see is light bouncing off the planets, and hitting our eyes. When we look at the moon, we see the bright, white surface of the moon, because light bounces off the surface of the rocky moon, and then travels to Earth and hits our eyes.

The moon looks white because the surface is made up of feldspar, a white material that reflects light. On other planets, their surfaces are made up of other materials of different colors. Looking at Uranus, we see a light blue planet, because the methane clouds covering the surface of Uranus reflect blue light. On Mars, the surface is made up of a thin layer of rust, which reflects red light. This is also the color fo rust here on Earth!