Coona Skies


Electromagnetic Spectrum

Electromagnetic waves have both an electric and magnetic component and are self-propagating in a vacuum. Light waves and radio waves are two kinds of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves exist at many different wavelengths (or frequencies). The wavelength or frequency of the electromagnetic wave determine whether it is a light wave, radio wave or other kind of wave. The family of electromagnetic waves of all the different wavelengths or frequencies form the electromagnetic spectrum.

Wave Band Wavelength Range Frequency Range (Hertz) Energy Range (Jules)
1 Radio Waves > 0.1m < 3 x 10 9 < 2 x 10 -24
Long wave radio
Short wave radio
2 Microwave 1mm - 100mm 3 x 10 9 - 3 x 10 11 2 x 10 -24 - 2 x 10 -22
3 Millimeter waves
4 Infrared 0.7 microns - 1000 microns 3 x 10 11 - 4 x 10  14 2 x 10 -22 - 3 x 10 -19
5 Visible 0.4 microns - 0.7 microns 4.3 x 10 14 - 7.5 x 10 14 3 x 10 -19 - 5 x 10 -19
Red
590 x 10 -9 - 750 x 10 -9 400 x 10 12 - 510 x 10 12
H-Alpha
656.3 x 10 -9 456.8 x 10 12
Yellow
550 x 10 -9 - 590 x 10 -9 508 x 10 12 - 550 x 10 12
Green
490 x 10 -9 - 550 x 10 -9 545 x 10 12 - 612 x 10 12
Blue
300 x 10 -9 - 490 x 10 -9 612 x 10 12 - 1000 x 10 12
6 Photometric bands
U (ultraviolet)
360 x 10 -9 833 x 10 12
B (blue)
440 x 10 -9 681 x 10 12
V (visual)
550 x 10 -9 545 x 10 12
R (red)
700 x 10 -9 428 x 10 12
I (infrared)
900 x 10 -9 333 x 10 12
J (infrared)
1250 x 10 -9 240 x 10 12
H (infrared)
1620 x 10 -9 185 x 10 12
K (infrared)
2200 x 10 -9 136 x 10 12
L (infrared)
3400 x 10 -9 88.2 x 10 12
M (infrared)
5000 x 10 -9 60.0 x 10 12
N (infrared)
10200 x 10 -9 29.4 x 10 12
Q (infrared)
19500 x 10 -9 15.4 x 10 12
7 Ultraviolet 1 x 10 -8 - 4 x 10 -7 7.5 x 10 14 - 3 x 10 16 5 x 10 -19 - 2 x 10 -17
8 X-rays 1 x 10 -11 - 1 x 10 -8 3 x 10 16 - 3 x 10 19 2 x 10 -17 - 2 x 10 -14
Soft X-rays
Hard X-rays
9 Gamma rays < 1 x 10 -11 > 3 x 10 19 > 2 x 10 -14