A couple out in Arizona, Richard and Monica Chapin, have built a moonlight magnifier (or, as they call it, an "interstellar light collector"). Exposure to concentrated lunar rays, they claim, can have all kinds of positive medical benefits. They hope it may even heal cancer. It cost them over $2 million to build the thing. According to their website,
starlightuses.com, here's how the machine works:
The Interstellar Light Collector rotates a full 360 degrees, and can be aligned with the position of the moon to 1/10,000 of an inch in accuracy. With a collection surface of 3,000 square feet, the collected light can be focused into an area as large as 10 by ten feet or as small as 1mm that can pulsated or applied as a laser and transmitted directly into the accompanying research facility.
The
Arizona Republic recently
published an article about this device. They describe in a bit more detail exactly what happens during a therapeutic session:
Visitors receive "moonstones," or rocks purified by sunlight, before they enter the basking zone in twos and threes. They are instructed to soak them with lunar rays for a personally sanctifying energy.
The Chapins don't charge money for this, but they do encourage visitors to make $10 donations and are seeking investors.
I'm willing to accept that light therapy has positive benefits, but I'm skeptical that moonlight has healing powers any different or greater than those of sunlight. Why would it, since it's just reflected sunlight? The Chapins claim that moonlight can't burn us like sunlight (right, because it's a lot less bright) and that moonlight "presents a distinctive spectrum composed of more reds and yellows, and possesses a different frequency than sunlight. This specific light spectrum has never been artificially duplicated." They admit that the healing benefits of moonlight have never been scientifically tested, but they're gathering anecdotal evidence to build their case.
I actually think it would be kind of cool to experience this thing. Would it be possible to get a moon tan? But I wouldn't look on it as anything more than an entertaining novelty, and I wouldn't expect any medical benefits from it beyond those gained from light therapy in general.
Comments
Way up in the blue.
It must have been Moonglow
That led me straight to you.
What this would mean as far as health, I don't really know. I suppose it would have less of the high-energy wavelengths, so it would be less damaging to skin than is sunlight. On the other hand, it probably wouldn't be as good as sunlight is for things like vitamin D.
In Reply to your post:
1) 360 degrees is indeed not needed, but would only be reasonable to have it 360 then spending extra money to make it not 360. Besides, the moon alters it pathway in the skies during seasons.
2) The shortest point between 2 spots is a stright line. Thus, the rays will be more concentrated the more direct it is.
It may be a silly thing, but if you're gonna do something, may as well do it right.
One thing, though: "the collected light can be. . .applied as a laser and transmitted directly into the accompanying research facility". You simply can't do that with a parabolic reflector like that. It won't produce a coherent beam. I suppose that they could focus the beams onto some sort of a condenser lens, and that would direct the beams in a reasonably straight line. But a laser?
thanks,
Bill
I'm a recent graduate in physics from the oxford university in the uk, and I'd like to comment a little about this moon business.
When the earth was created as a chunk of the sun, and the moon was created as a spare chunk, is it as if we had this formula
sun = smaller sun plus planets plus their moons
in the particular case of our beloved earth, the reduced formula could go like this
sun = smaller sun plus earth plus moon
with an IMPORTANT by-product
WATER
please allow this pseudo equations for the sake of argument.
the relationship between the moon and our water, is a more intimate one than just a tidal/gravitational one.
i think there is an inherent coupling in the concepts of moon surface, light from the sun, reflected/refracted/absorbed and re-emitted light from the moon, and our water.
we are also made of this water
moonlight has been proven (check robert downs investigation on crystals) to clear and change properties of crystals
robert down's work is being used for the mars investigations coming up by the nasa. he's a well recognised university researcher
our bones (calcium), our liquids and many of our tissues are arranged in crystalline structures throughout.
clearly, health effects are likely to be real with this thing.
being a skeptic is over rated, and fashionable.
sometimes, a little faith is needed to see things that are right in front of you. after you see them, you can throw away the faith
Well, actually we would. The tides are caused by the moon's gravity, not the light reflected from it.
Which is why the tide won't be affected by cloud cover etc.