Figure 3-43The Sun as a Blackbody This graph shows the similarity between the intensity of sunlight and the intensity of radiation from a 5800 K blackbody over a wide range of wavelengths. Earth’s atmosphere scatters shorter-wavelength photons more than it scatters longer-wavelength ones. As seen from Earth, this scattering lowers the intensity of sunlight and shifts the blackbody peak to the right from where it would occur normally. To avoid these effects, the measurements of the Sun’s intensity in this figure were made in space.