The Sun, On a Trip Through the Electromagnetic Spectrum

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The Sun, On a Trip Through the Electromagnetic Spectrum

The image above shows the sun’s output of radio waves, which have the longest wavelengths, lowest frequencies, and lowest energies of any part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

IDL TIFF file

This image, above, shows the sun’s microwave output.

Next, infrared:

sun infrared

This next one should be familar. It’s visible light. (Don’t stare at the sun, though.)

Sun visible light

Moving on through the spectrum, ultraviolet is next:

sun ultraviolet

After that, x-rays:

sun xray

And, finally, we arrive at the other side of the spectrum, where the electromagnetic radiation has its shortest wavelengths, and highest frequencies, as well as energy per photon. This is the sun in gamma rays:

sun gamma

Most of these images, all found using Google image-searches, use false colors, of course . . . or you wouldn’t be able to see them!