Pointed my IR laser at the sky today, and it showed about -12.2 celsius. Is there no blackbody radiation in the air? Or there is such gases like Nitrogen? Argon? Also, how far does the laser reach into the sky?
In: Physics
IR thermometer “guns” pick up infrared light from whatever they’re pointed at. The laser just helps you see where it’s aimed.
While the sky offers some infrared, especially any CO2 gas up there, much of what it will detect (or *not* detect) is infrared from space.
Being mostly empty, there isn’t much infrared from space, so it appears cold to the thermometer.
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