A friend of mine wants to know if it is possible to get a tan from the moonlight?

Answer 1

The moon won't reflect ultra-violet.

Answer 2

True or False: spend enough time under a very bright moon and you can get a tan.

The answer might seem to be yes, or at least maybe. After all, moonlight is reflected sunlight. And if direct sunlight can cause you to tan and even burn, then why not reflected sunlight? Sure, moonlight clearly isn't as strong as light coming directly from the sun. But perhaps enough exposure to a radiant moon could cause a very light tan.

But the actual answer, as you may have guessed, is no. You can't get a tan from the moon, no matter how bright. You see, we tan when our skin produces melanin in reaction to the sun's ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet rays are harmful; they can cause skin damage and even cancer. Our skin produces melanin as a defense against ultraviolet rays. Melanin absorbs ultraviolet radiation, thereby protecting the skin's cells. So the more ultraviolet light, the more melanin our skin will produce.

The catch is that it takes a certain amount of ultraviolet sunlight to make the skin produce melanin. Sunlight reaching us via the moon just doesn't have enough ultraviolet oomph to trigger the skin's defensive shield. A full moon may look really bright, but the surface of the moon is actually pretty dark. The moon absorbs most of the sunlight that hits it.

Of course, some of the sun's reflected ultraviolet light does reach us. Theoretically, prolonged exposure to moonlight could cause some damage. But in this case "prolonged" means hundreds of years of continuous moon bathing. But under normal conditions our skin quickly repairs whatever minimal damage is caused by the light of the silvery moon.

Answer 3

The answer is no.

You cannot get a tan from the moon even at full moon.

The reason we tan is because our skin produces a chemical called melanin which reacts with the sun's ultraviolet light.

As ultraviolet light can cause skin cancer. So, our skin produces the melanin to counter the ultraviolet rays.

However, you will need a certain level of ultraviolet light to trigger the skin to produce melanin.

The moon, unfortunately (or fortunately), just does not have enough reflected ultraviolet light.

Although, it is true that some ultraviolet light still reached us via the moon, however, it will take a long, long time for this to produce tan like in hundreds of years.

So, tell your friend the good (or bad) news that you cannot get a tan from the moonlight.

Answer 4

No,
unlike the sun the moon does not emmit UVA or UVB light, the UV light is what activates melanocytes to produce a tan

Answer 5

go to the moon and you'll get a Big tan.

Answer 6

No, of course not, light is too dim and UV & IR components are even weaker.

Answer 7

No. The radiation is not nearly strong enough.