Non-green plants on other planets

NASA scientists can now predict the color of plants on other planets, and they may well not be green. On Earth photosynthetic plants are primarily green, due to the color of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll in plants is responsible for photosynthesis, which converts the (light) energy of the sun into (chemical) energy of sugars such as glucose. Chlorophyll appears green because it absorbs more red and blue light and less green light (i.e., it reflects more green). Since more red light actually reaches the surface of the earth than green, Nature has optimized chlorophyll to use the most abundant (red) light. However, other planets, circling other stars, may have a different wavelength of light predominant on the surface. Thus, the “chlorophyll” on other planets may have evolved to absorb this light and reflect something other than green.