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The Human EyeOnly a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum of wavelengths is visible to the human eye. That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum can be imaged because the cornea and the lens of the eye can bend the path of light rays onto the retina, the back surface detector. An image is formed upside down on the retinal rods and cones nerve endings that are light sensitive. These nerve endings produce signals that are sent along optical nerve fibers to be processed by vision centers of the brain. The brain interprets the world as right side up. In essence, the rods and cones convert light energy into thousands of data bits called nerve pulses. These pulses are transferred to the brain by cables called nerves. The signal pulses are processed by the brain into an understandable image. This is an example of how the disk of the Sun looks in a restricted part of the visible light spectrum. DO NOT look directly at the Sun! |
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