Researchers want to build 'streetlights' on the moon — and they'd be taller than the Statue of Liberty

[Admin]

A private company has received funding from the U.S. government to build the first-ever "streetlights" on the moon — towering, Statue of Liberty-sized structures that could withstand the brutal lunar night.

Researchers want to build 'streetlights' on the moon — and they'd be taller than the Statue of Liberty : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I wonder how dark it really is on the Moon during lunar night.

Considering that on Earth, a night with a full moon and no clouds is bright enough to walk around outside without any artificial light, I would think that "Earthshine" on the Moon would be even brighter.

With Earth's diameter about 4 times the diameter of the Moon, that gives 16 times that area in the sky that is lighted by a "full Earth" compared to a full moon. Maybe not quite as reflective, but still a lot of light.

And, because the same side of the Moon is always facing Earth, at sundown on the Moon, the Earth is half-lighted and only gets to be "fuller" as it approaches lunar midnight on the Moon's surface.

But, with no lunar atmosphere, shadows on the Moon at night would probably be much darker, only getting reflected light from nearby lunar surface areas that are lighted by Earthshine.

And, even without Earthshine, there is starlight. On ocean passages with clear skies and no moon at all, many things are still visible once my eyes adapt to the darkness. The only place I have seen completely black darkness is in caves where we turned off all lights on purpose to have he experience.