Hi there, I’m Ray!

The photon who lives in The Helio House.

I was born deep inside the Sun, in a place so hot and dense that atoms fuse together to make new light, like me!
After an incredibly long journey through the Sun’s layers, I finally escaped into space and raced toward Earth at the speed of light.

Every glow, every sunrise, every spark of warmth in this house comes from me and my fellow rays. So, welcome to my page and let’s explore what makes me shine!

I was born in the heart of the Sun, travelled through layers of fiery plasma and riding the magnetic field roads all the way to Earth. Here is all about my journey here to the Helio House:

1. The Core

My birthplace! Deep in the Sun’s center, it’s over 15 million degrees  – so hot that hydrogen atoms fuse together to form helium. Each fusion releases tiny bursts of energy, including lots of photons – like me!

2. Radiative Zone

I spend hundreds of thousands of years bouncing around from atom to atom. It’s like being trapped in a glowing maze, taking one tiny step at a time as I slowly move outward.

3. Convective Zone

Finally, I hitch a ride on rising currents of hot plasma that carry me upward like a cosmic elevator. The Sun’s surface is almost in sight!

4. Photosphere

I’ve made it! This is the Sun’s visible surface – the part you see shining in the sky. After all that time inside, I’m finally free to fly.

5. Corona

I speed through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, a halo of million-degree plasma stretching far into space. It’s thinner here, but still dazzlingly bright.

6. Interplanetary Space

Now I’m racing across the Solar System at the speed of light – 300,000 km per second! In just eight minutes, I’ll reach Earth.

7. Earth’s atmosphere

I slip through the blue layers of air, bouncing and bending slightly as I pass through clouds, ozone, and the whisper of wind.

8. The Helio House

A.k.a ground level

And here I am! Landing on your walls, your screen, and your eyes – turning into the warmth you feel and the light that lets you see.

Welcome to The Daily Mood: a snapshot of how our Sun is feeling right now.
These live readings from NOAA and NASA show what the Sun’s been up to today, from flares and solar wind to magnetic field shifts that ripple through space weather here on Earth.
The image below, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere, the corona, where bright loops trace powerful magnetic activity.

Image: NASA/SDO (updates frequently)

• 💥 24-hour max flare: —
• 💨 Solar wind speed: — km/s
• 🧭 Kp index (now): —
• 🧲 IMF Bz (GSM): — nT
• 🌞 Active regions (today): —

24-hour summary

Loading…

Today’s vibe: loading…

Curious what all these numbers mean?
Learn how solar wind speed, magnetic fields, and flare strength shape space weather in The Library, where you can explore guides on solar activity, storms, and auroras.

☀️ Ray’s Glow Guide

As you explore the Helio House, you’ll notice me glowing in different colors, that glow reflects how our Sun is feeling right now! It’s linked directly to the live data above, so my color changes with the Sun’s activity.

🟢 Green Glow – All calm in space! The Sun is relaxed, with only gentle solar wind and small flares.

🟠 Orange Glow – The Sun is a little restless. Moderate activity means solar flares or wind streams could stir up mild space weather.

🔴 Red Glow – Stormy skies! Big flares or geomagnetic storms are sending powerful waves through space. Keep an eye out – auroras might be dancing on Earth tonight!

You’ll see me change colour around the site, in the corner of pages, near dashboards, or in little animations, so you can always tell at a glance how our star is feeling today.

I may always be a photon, but I can take on many forms depending on how much energy I’m carrying. From long, lazy radio waves to high-energy gamma rays, every version of me tells a different story about the universe. Whether I’m helping you listen to music, take an X-ray, or warm your skin in sunlight, it’s all still me, just in a different mood.

Radio Ray

I’m stretched out and chill, my waves are the longest of all, from about 1 mm to 100 km long. That means I have the lowest energy and lowest frequency (as little as 3 kHz to 300 GHz). You can find me carrying your favourite songs through the air or bouncing off distant planets to help scientists explore space.

Microwave Ray

A little shorter and warmer! My waves are about 1 mm to 1 m long, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. I’m what heats up your popcorn and what the universe left behind after the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background.

Infrared Ray

You can’t see me, but you can feel me as heat. My wavelengths run from 700 nm to 1 mm, and my frequencies are between 300 GHz and 430 THz. I glow from warm hands, cozy fires, and even from stars wrapped in dusty clouds.

Visible Ray

This is my middle form, the one your eyes know best! I stretch from about 400 nm (violet) to 700 nm (red), with frequencies between 430 THz and 750 THz. Together with my colorful siblings (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet), I make everything you see shine.

Ultraviolet Ray

Now I’m really buzzing with energy! My waves are shorter, from 10 nm to 400 nm, and my frequencies climb up to 30 petahertz (PHz). I give the sky its blue glow and help make vitamin D in your skin, but don’t forget your sunscream, I can be a bit much.

X-ray Ray

Super high energy, I can see right through you! My wavelengths are between 0.01 nm and 10 nm, with frequencies of about 30 PHz to 30 exahertz (EHz). Doctors use me to peek inside bodies, and astronomers use me to study exploding stars and black holes.

Gamma Ray

My most powerful form! My waves are less than 0.01 nm long, that’s a frequency above 10 EHz and energies greater than 100 keV. I’m born in supernovas, black holes, and the most extreme places in the universe. I might be tiny, but I pack the biggest punch.

From my radio waves to my gamma rays, every form of me helps scientists uncover a different layer of the Sun’s story:

• Radio waves trace storms and magnetic fields rippling through the corona.
• Infrared and visible light reveal the Sun’s surface and sunspots.
• Ultraviolet and X-Rays expose the hot, energetic outer atmosphere where flares erupt.
• And my most powerful Gamma Rays mark the explosions of particles launched at nearly the speed of light.

Together, these clues let you see the Sun as I do, not just as a bright disk in the sky, but as a living, breathing star bursting with invisible activity across the spectrum. All of my forms make up what scientists call the electromagnetic spectrum.