The transfer of radiant energy from one object to another occurs without the region between them necessarily being heated. The wavelengths of radiation that an object emits depend primarily on the object s temperature. Objects that have a high temperature emit radiation at a greater rate than objects with a lower temperature.
Radiation travels as a wave and interacts with a material by absorption and scattering.
The sun and earth are both considered blackbodies. 2897 T where l max is measured in microns and temperature in Kelvins. In the atmosphere the primary absorbing materials are water vapor and carbon dioxide. This is Kirchoff's law . Scattering redirects energy.