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Yeah, this was my immediate thought as well. Yes, you can't concentrate solar energy to heat something hotter than the surface of the sun. But the emission of a
by neltnerb 8y ago
Yeah, this was my immediate thought as well. Yes, you can't concentrate solar energy to heat something hotter than the surface of the sun. But the emission of a 100C blackbody is not visible either, so it's clearly an incorrect hypothesis on it's face that this temperature causes moonlight.
It's a bad mirror, not a radiator.
- tbabb 8y agoAnd it's a mirror that subtends a tiny fraction of the sky, and a tiny fraction of the sun's blurred virtual image.
- neltnerb 8y agoFor sure, the light is super dim. I'm not sure it's possible to focus the energy enough to light a fire. I'm just sure the reason is not because moonlight is entirely composed of radiation from a 100C blackbody. This is just immediately obvious because we can see it, so this whole article is a little weird.