mirrors and moonbeams

Moonlight collectorIs anyone interested in a road trip to Arizona for some moonshine? No, not that kind of moonshine. I’m talking about moonlight reflected off a five-story mirror array in the desert near Tuscon.

A Tucson-based inventor and businessman Richard Chapin and his wife Monica are behind the giant device, which gathers up and focuses the light of the moon.

The Chapins built the large, one-of-a-kind contraption that stands in the desert some 15 miles west of Tucson, Arizona, in the belief that moonlight might have applications for medicine, industry and agriculture.

“So much work has focused on the sun. We have just forgotten about this great object that has been here for billions of years, has affected us in all forms of our evolution,” said Chapin, who paid for the project with his own money.

I certainly don’t think there’s anything woo-woo about moonlight, even when concentrated, but I really do like the idea of being bathed in concentrated moonlight. Just thinking about the phenomenal distances involved in the light’s journey to you is awe-inspiring.