To easily illuminate a wide area with comparatively bright, uniform intensity light by a small apparatus.

The illuminating apparatus 1 has illuminating panels 11-1 and 11-2 in which a plurality of infrared ray LEDs are fitted. The infrared ray LEDs are fitted in the illuminating panel 11-1 such that the optical axis of illuminating light and a normal 61-1 relative to the surface of the illuminating panel 11-1 coincide. The infrared ray LEDs is fitted in the illuminating panel 11-2 such that the optical axis of illuminating light coincides with a normal 61-2 to the surface of the illuminating panel 11-2. The illuminating panels 11-1 and 11-2 are joined together so as to form an angle 62° corresponding to a radiation angle at which 1/2 of light intensity on the optical axes of the infrared ray LEDs of the illuminating panels 11-1 and 11-2 is obtained. The invention can be applied in a projector.