Seen with the human eye, the Sun appears as an intensely bright object in the sky. The light it emits appears to be white although if we shine sunlight through a prism we see a continous rainbow of colors. These colors make up the visible white light of the Sun.

Visible light makes up a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. With special equipment, it's possible to examine the Sun in wavelengths other than visible light. Scientists take "pictures" of the Sun as it appears in infrared, ultraviolet, and even x-ray wavelengths. Obviously, we can't see these non-visible portions of the spectrum. However, sophisticated instruments can detect these wave lengths which are then converted into images we can see. You'll notice the Sun looks different when viewed through the "eyes" of these instruments. Scientists use these different images to better understand the features and the workings of the Sun.