Ultraviolet colors
Posted: 31.08.2004, 03:22
by Enio
I know that the visible light have 7 simplified colours ( red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet ). And I want to know if you have a site or know how many simplified colors scientists detected in ultraviolet spectrum.
Posted: 31.08.2004, 06:37
by Evil Dr Ganymede
Well, the colours in visible light are there because they're different wavelengths of light. And we can see them because our eyes are sensitive to those wavelengths.
IR and UV don't have "colours" per se. We talk about infrared being split into near-IR and far-IR, which goes into sub-millimetre and microwave and radio as the wavelength gets longer. UV is just ultraviolet as far as I know, which goes to extreme-UV and then X-Ray and Gamma Ray as the wavelength gets shorter.
Spacecraft will use different filters on their imaging systems to see into the near IR and UV wavelengths (like Cassini is using a near-IR wavelength to see through Titan's haze that is impenetrable to visible light), so I guess you could think of those as being "colours" that you'd see if your eyes were capable of seeing into those wavelengths.
But really, I think colours are only a concept that works for visible light.