Moonlight - wikipedia Moonlight For other uses, see Moonlight ( disambiguation ). The Moon illuminates a boat club in Holma, Sweden. Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight ( with little earthlight ) reflected from the parts of the Moon 's surface where the Sun 's light strikes. Contents 1 Illumination 2 Folklore 3 Moonlight in art 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on its phase, but even the full Moon typically provides only about 0.05 -- 0.1 lux illumination. When the Moon is at perigee and viewed around upper culmination from the tropics, the illuminance can reach 0.32 lux. The full Moon is only about one - millionth as bright as the Sun. The color of moonlight, particularly around full moon, appears bluish to the human eye compared to most artificial light sources due to the Purkinje effect. Moonlight is not actually tinted blue, and although moonlight is often referred to as `` silvery '', it has no inherent silvery quality. The Moon 's albedo is 0.136, meaning only 13.6 % of incident sunlight is reflected from the Moon. Moonlight generally hampers astronomical viewing, so astronomers usually avoid observing sessions around full Moon. It takes approximately 1.26 seconds for moonlight to reach Earth 's surface. Moonlight shines on the Very Large Telescope. Moonlight illuminates a lake and surroundings. During a lunar eclipse, the Moon is colored red by indirect sunlight, which Earth 's atmosphere has scattered and refracted. Earthlight ( indirect sunlight reflected from Earth ) illuminates the dim side of the Moon, while direct sunlight the bright side. With manual exposure settings, photographs taken in moonlight do not appear much different from those taken in daylight. Folklore In folklore, moonlight sometimes has a harmful influence. For example, sleeping in the light of a full Moon on certain nights was said to transform a person into a werewolf. The light of the Moon was thought to worsen the symptoms of lunatics, and to sleep in moonlight could make one blind, or mad. Nyctalopia ( night blindness caused by a lack of vitamin A ) was thought to be caused by sleeping in moonlight in the tropics. `` Moon blindness '' is a name for equine recurrent uveitis. Moonlight is no longer thought of as the cause. In the 16th century, moonmilk, a soft white limestone precipitate found in caves, was thought to be caused by the rays of the moon. Moonlight in art Dovedale by Moonlight by Joseph Wright of Derby Seaport by Moonlight by Claude Joseph Vernet The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh Clair de lune sur le port de Boulogne - Seaport of Boulogne by Moonlight by Édouard Manet Visitor to a moonlit churchyard by Philip James de Loutherbourg See also Moon portal Airglow Daylight Diffuse reflection Earthlight ( astronomy ) Scotobiology Starlight References Jump up ^ Toomer, G.J. ( December 1964 ). `` Review : Ibn al - Haythams Weg zur Physik by Matthias Schramm ''. Isis. 55 ( 4 ) : 463 -- 465 ( 463 -- 4 ). doi : 10.1086 / 349914. ^ Jump up to : Kyba, Christopher CM ; Mohar, Andrej ; Posch, Thomas ( 1 February 2017 ). `` How bright is moonlight ? ''. Astronomy & Geophysics. 58 ( 1 ) : 1.31 -- 1.32. doi : 10.1093 / astrogeo / atx025. Retrieved 14 February 2017. Jump up ^ Matthews, Grant ( 2008 ). `` CERES ''. Applied Optics. 47 ( 27 ) : 4981 -- 93. Bibcode : 2008ApOpt... 47.4981 M. doi : 10.1364 / AO. 47.004981. PMID 18806861. Jump up ^ A Dictionary of English folklore, Oxford University Press, 2000 Jump up ^ Gessner, Conrad ( 1555 ). Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati ( Description of Mount Fractus, or Mount Pilatus ) ( in Latin ). p. 54. Retrieved March 12, 2016. External links Look up moonlight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moonlight. Phases of the Moon at USNO Strange Moonlight at Science@NASA Moonlight Brightness at LunarLight Photography The Moon Physical properties Internal structure Topography Atmosphere Gravity field Hill sphere Magnetic field Sodium tail Moonlight Earthshine Orbit Orbital elements Distance Perigee & apogee Nodes Nodal period Precession Syzygy New moon Full moon Eclipses Lunar eclipse Total penumbral lunar eclipse Tetrad Solar eclipse Solar eclipses on the Moon Eclipse cycle Supermoon Tide Tidal force Tidal locking Tidal acceleration Tidal range Lunar mansion Surface & features Selenography Terminator Hemispheres Near side Far side Poles North pole South pole Face Maria List Mountains Peak of eternal light Valleys Volcanic features Domes Calderas Craters List Ray systems Crater of eternal darkness Shackleton crater South Pole -- Aitken basin Soil Swirls Rilles Wrinkle ridges Rocks Lunar basalt 70017 Water Space weathering Micrometeorite Sputtering Quakes Transient lunar phenomenon Science Observation Libration Lunar theory Origin Giant - impact hypothesis Theia Lunar magma ocean Geology Timescale Late Heavy Bombardment Lunar meteorites KREEP Experiments Lunar laser ranging ALSEP Lunar sample displays Apollo 11 Apollo 17 Exploration Missions Apollo program Probes Landing Conspiracy theories Colonization Tourism Time - telling Lunar calendar Lunisolar calendar Month Lunar month Nodal period Fortnight Sennight Lunar mansion Phases & names New Full Names Crescent Super & micro Blood Blue Black Dark Wet Tetrad Related topics Psychology Lunar effect Moon illusion Pareidolia Man in the Moon Moon rabbit Craters named after people Memorials on the Moon Moon in fiction Moon in mythology Hjúki and Bil `` Moon is made of green cheese '' Natural satellite Double planet Lilith ( hypothetical second moon ) Moon portal Earth sciences portal Solar System portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moonlight&oldid=825523702 '' Categories : Lunar observation Light Light sources Moon Hidden categories : CS1 Latin - language sources ( la ) All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bân - lâm - gú Brezhoneg Català Čeština Deutsch Eesti Español فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch മലയാളം Nederlands 日本 語 Português Svenska தமிழ் తెలుగు اردو Tiếng Việt 中文 17 more Edit links This page was last edited on 13 February 2018, at 21 : 57. 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Question: where does the light from the moon come from
Answer: sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface