Black body radiation as a function of wavelength and temperature
Date: 26 September 2011
Depicts: Graph showing black body radiation as a function of wavelength and temperature
Copyright: ESA / AOES Medialab
The two graphs in this figure show three black body radiation curves, corresponding to bodies at different temperatures, as a function of wavelength. On the vertical axis, the intensity of the energy emitted by each body is shown in arbitrary units.
The violet curve corresponds to a body at 10,000 K (e.g. the surface of a hot and massive star) and peaks at ultraviolet wavelengths, the green curve corresponds to 6000 K (e.g. the surface of a mid-size star, such as the Sun) and peaks at visible wavelengths, and the orange curve corresponds to 3500 K (e.g. the surface of a cool and low-mass star) and peaks at infrared wavelengths.
The panel on the right shows a close-up of the inset enclosed in the red frame: hotter objects emit more radiation than colder objects over all wavelengths, but the shape of the curve remains the same.
