What’s Up – Sun Facts
The Wavelengths in Sunlight

The Sun gives off waves of energy; we call this radiation.

The energy in sunlight includes several kinds of radiation. Each kind has a different wavelength.

This picture shows the range of wavelengths found in sunlight: from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, to the visible light spectrum (the light we can see), to infrared radiation.

The wavelengths range from less than 290 nanometers for UVC (a very short, high-energy wavelength) to 3000 nanometers (a very long, low-energy wavelength).

What’s a nanometer? It is one-billionth of a meter—really, really tiny!

Image of the light spectrum. From below 290 nanometers on the left to 400 nanometers is light we can't see and is depicted here as black. From 400 nm to 760 nm is the light we can see and is depicted here as a rainbow of colors. From 760 nm to over 3000 nm is infrared light we can't see and is again depicted in black.

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