Green Frog Cakes

The Buddha was right, I said glumly to Pliny the Elder this morning. Google is confusing about green stars. Do you know why there are no green stars in the sky?

What do you mean, no green stars in the sky? said Pliny. Take a look in the newspaper. Here is a photograph of a whole sky full of green stars surrounding a black hole that's just been found at the outermost edge of the universe.

They look kind of bluish, I said doubtfully. And they wouldn't satisfy the Buddha. He was talking about stars that are visible to us.

Well, what did you learn from Google? asked Pliny. Perhaps we can sort out the confusion.

A site called Bad Astronomy says a star that's at the right temperature to emit green light would also emit some red and blue light, so our eye would always see it as white. The sun for example. But the right temperature is about 10,000 degrees. The sun is hotter than that surely?

He must be talking about the surface of the sun, said Pliny. The sun is hotter in the middle, but it's the outer sun that we see.

I always thought the sun was yellow, I said sulkily.

A misconception, said Pliny, due to the fact that most boxes of crayons do not contain a white. As children, drawing the sun in our childish pictures, we learn to use the colour that is closest to white, which is yellow.

I cant imagine you having a box of crayons, Pliny, I said.

I didn't, said Pliny. I should admit that I have been reading Bad Astronomy too.

But what am I going to tell the Buddha? I wailed.

Dont worry, Why don't you just buy him a present. Everyone likes presents.

Do you?

Yes I do.

Oh, I didn't know. What sort of presents do you like?

Cakes.

Alright I'll buy him a cake. Would you like one too? What kind of cake do you like?

I'm very partial to those green frog cakes from Balfours.

I'll get two.