Celeste Celeste (, , ) is the colloquial name for the pale turquoise blue colour. The same word, meaning "of the sky", is used in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian for the colour.
Etymologically, it is derived by
Latin term , that means in Italian. There are two "conventional" colours denominated celeste, according to the
colour models. One is the
pure Celeste, (
HEX#B2FFFF;
RGB 178,255,255)'' and
Bianchi Green, referring to
Bianchi, the famous Italian company for
bikes, the first in the history of vehicles, whose colour is characteristic. The
Japanese equivalent is known as '
or ', referring to the colour of the sky or its reflection on the sea. The other one is also another conventional celeste (
HEX #99cbff and
RGB 153,203,255) containing 100% of blue, associated to a more generic colour of the
sky and remembering a type of light
zenithal blue and the next
sky blue gradations. and
Torregrotta, Sicily in September; the colour of the ideal sky is shown with a perfect or near-perfect weather, especially close to the horizon, where the
cyan is more evident.
Celeste, that is, the
pure Celeste strictly speaking (
HEX #B2FFFF;
RGB 178,255,255) from here on (and which can be thought as the "true" or "conventional" celeste), is a
gradation of the
cyan and a
cold colour. It is the colour of the
sky with optimal
visibility, when it is clear, perfectly or near-perfectly cloudless and sunny with an optimal quantity of
humidity, absence or optimal quantity of
atmospheric dust,
aerosol/
particulates with a good or at least moderate AIQ (Air Quality Index), absence of mist, haze, resulting in a good
diffusion of light blue without
saturation, which causes the prevalence of the white or of the
warm colours of sunrise and sunset; in these excellent conditions, it is possible to see Celeste and its variations perpendicularly to the Sun, toward the horizon, where the sunlight is maximum as the sky is directly illuminated, and these shades merge with the golden light of solar rays and the white of the horizon, both in the morning and afternoon, or even across the entire region between the star and the horizon, when the
star is high, relatively next to solar or true noon. In particular, in the warm seasons, with the
inclination of a
hemisphere with respect to the Sun, there are simultaneously the optimisation of
sunlight, daylight hours, and so the
pure celeste might be visible in the entire region between the horizon and Sun both in the morning and afternoon; generally, the higher the Sun is during the day and the year, the less visible celeste and variations will be. In particular, they are most visible in the morning across the Sun and the horizon in the early hours with the rising of the star, sometimes even until noon, until they are reduced to a few stripes on the horizon, where the
cyan is more intense. In the afternoon, it is the opposite and the
pure celeste and similar gradations could be widely visible between the Sun and horizon when the star is high, but starting to go down, that is especially in the early afternoon hours. Instead, in the cold season, with a low Sun and sunlight, the
pure celeste may be visible only at the horizon, where the cyan is more intense for the maximum light, but is more difficult to see because of the major weather instability. Since sunlight is strongest at the horizon, that is where the
pure celeste is more evident, producing the
tonalities of the cyan, very close to the white. and
Torregrotta, Sicily, with perfectly clear, serene and sunny weather in September. The pure celeste is more evident close to the horizon, where the
cyan is more intense. Alternatively, other variants, like
Celeste polvere, Pallido and
Velato, are visible towards the horizon when the Sun is near to the zenith, always with conditions for good visibility. In the afternoon, always with good conditions, these three types of celeste, together with softer and less bright shades of celeste, are visible at a straight angle from north to south, until around sunset. In reality, it can be difficult to observe the
pure celeste, being the colour of a clear day with optimal meteorological conditions; other shades of blue are often visible in the sky, as
Light Sky Blue and similar gradations, among which is the other conventional celeste, and so celeste, which is very close to the white with a
RGB of 178,255,255, is very luminous, and so visible in the direction of the Sun because it is there the maximum quantity of solar light is present, especially towards the horizon, even if human eyes can only perceive the visible light. Here celeste and variations are more visible in the warm seasons because of the
inclination of a
hemisphere with respect to the Sun,
Gradations The Italian Wikipedia cites '''' by S.Fantetti and C.Petracchi and describes multiple variants of celeste as shown below, plus details as defined in the infobox above.
Light sky blue {{Infobox color Displayed at right is the web colour
light sky blue. It is close in shade to
baby blue.
Medium sky blue {{Infobox color Displayed at right is the colour
medium sky blue. This is the colour that is called
sky blue in
Crayola crayons. This colour was formulated by Crayola in 1958. "Sky blue" appears in the 32, 48, 64, 96 and 120 packs of crayons.
Vivid sky blue Displayed at right is the colour
vivid sky blue.
Deep sky blue Deep sky blue is an azure-
cyan colour associated with deep shade of sky blue. Deep sky blue is a
web colour. This is the colour on the
colour wheel (
RGB/HSV colour wheel) halfway between azure and cyan. The colour name deep sky blue came into use with the formulisation of the
X11 colour names over 1985–1989. The
normalised colour coordinates for deep sky blue are identical to Capri, which first came into use as a colour name in English in 1920. in
Capri, namesake of the original (and ongoing) name for this colour
French sky blue {{infobox color At right is displayed the colour
French sky blue, which is the tone of sky blue that is called
sky blue (
bleu ciel) in the Pourpre.com colour list, a colour list widely popular in France.
Spanish sky blue {{infobox color
Spanish sky blue is the colour that is called
celeste (the Spanish word for "sky blue") in the ''
(Guide to colourations'') by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a colour dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the
Hispanophone realm.
Dark sky blue {{infobox color Displayed at right is the colour
dark sky blue. This is the colour called
sky blue in
Pantone. The source of this colour is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" colour list, colour #14-4318 TPX—Sky Blue. ==In culture==