Researchers can measure the intensity of sunlight using a sunshine recorder, pyranometer, or pyrheliometer. To calculate the amount of sunlight reaching the ground, both the eccentricity of Earth's elliptic orbit and … See more

Different bodies of the Solar System receive light of an intensity inversely proportional to the square of their distance from Sun.
A table comparing the amount of solar radiation received by each planet in the Solar System at the … See more

Solar constant
The solar constant is a measure of flux density, is the amount of incoming solar electromagnetic radiation per unit area that would be … See more

The existence of nearly all life on Earth is fueled by light from the Sun. Most autotrophs, such as plants, use the energy of sunlight, combined with carbon dioxide and water, to … See more

The spectrum of the Sun's solar radiation can be compared to that of a black body with a temperature of about 5,800 K (see graph). The Sun … See more

Seasonal and orbital variation
On Earth, the solar radiation varies with the angle of the Sun above the horizon, with longer sunlight … See more

The spectrum of surface illumination depends upon solar elevation due to atmospheric effects, with the blue spectral component … See more