Gamma Ray Sky View
The reason we “see” specific frequencies of light, or alternatively, our brains have acquired the capability to interpret the signals coming to the eyes in a certain narrow band of electromagnetic waves, is because of two things (i) particular properties of the spectra arriving from the Sun, and (ii) the specific photo synthesis process that became dominant and gave the green color to our food.
In an alternate world, depending on its own star, and its own food chain, one can imagine an alien being acquiring a capability to “see” in a different frequency band.
Sometimes I tell my eight year daughter science fiction stories based on “real science”, and we have a recurring character called Gammon, and he comes from a planet where the inhabitants are lead based and their food supply is radioactive metal and they “see” in hard X-ray/soft gamma ray spectrum.
If they were to look up in the sky, this is what they would see:
night sky in gamma ray spectrum; not too different from how the sky looks in the visible spectrum.
In case you are wondering as to how the earth will look in the gamma ray spectrum, wonder no more.
The pixelated planet above is actually our own planet Earth seen in gamma rays.
The Earth’s gamma-ray glow is indeed very faint, and this image was constructed by combining data from seven years of exposure during the life of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, operating in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. Brightest near the edge and faint near the center, the picture indicates that the gamma rays are coming from high in Earth’s atmosphere. The gamma rays are produced as the atmosphere interacts with high energy cosmic rays from space, blocking the harmful radiation from reaching the surface.
