As a result, purple and magenta are known as "nonspectral" colors, because they don't really exist as actual electromagnetic ...

That’s why we cannot make out UV or infrared light—UV wavelengths are too short for our cones to detect, and infrared wavelengths are too long. Cone cells come in three flavors: ...

Ultraviolet wavelengths, which range from 10 to 380 nanometers, are smaller and more energetic than those on the visible light spectrum. (Image credit: Ali Damouh/Science Photo Library via Getty ...

Violet light, at wavelengths less than 450 nm, is associated with a higher degree of light scatter and may have phototoxic effects that increase the risk for retinal disease.

Because UV light with wavelengths less than 360 nm does not penetrate the eye’s cornea, this suggests that our eyes sense and adapt to the deep violet visible wavelengths in natural light.

But when the waves get shorter still, the light becomes invisible and is known as ultraviolet (UV). There are different kinds of UV light, depending on its precise wavelength between 10nm and 400nm.

Hotter objects, like young stars, radiate energy at shorter wavelengths of light; that’s why younger stars at temperatures up to 12,000 degrees Celsius, like the star Rigel, look blue to us.