Night vision receptors and responsiveness to certain wavelengths

Specifically, our night vision receptors are significantly more responsive to cooler, high temperature light (ie towards blue) than to warmer temperature light (ie towards yellow). We perceive cooler white as a blue-type or violet type white. As an example of cool vs warm, just think of the blueish white emitted by fluorescent tubes vs a regular light bulb, that looks more yellow in comparison.

Another significant factor is that the night vision part of our eyes deals mainly with detecting movement and peripheral vision. Here again our peripheral response is increased when viewing shorter wavelength light ie cooler colors. This enables us to more quickly interpret targets in our peripheral field.