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The Idea:

Inexpensive, yet surprisingly powerful laser pointing devices have become ubiquitous in America. Millions of people own such a device. Laser light stays coherent over vast distances, the beams spreading very little. In theory, even a single laser pointer could reach the Moon. The idea behind Paint the Moon is to organize millions of people in North America to try and shine their laser pointers on one area of the Moon at one time, to see if we can create a temporary visible spot of color on our nearest celestial neighbor.

Will it work?

I honestly don't know. I'm a writer and an artist, not a scientist. But I think it could work, in theory. If we can get a few million people to attempt it, it may very well work. We may not succeed. But wouldn't it be great if we did? Think how truly awesome a sight it would be, and the feeling you'd have in knowing that you helped to make it possible. The more people who join in, the better the chances are. So, help spread the word: send this site to everyone you know.

Why do it?

So-called 'environmental artists' such as Christo have explored large scale, temporary works that involve altering or enhancing the landscape with fabric and other materials. This is along the same lines: to create a temporary dance of red laser light on the dark portion of the Moon which would be visible from Earth.

But just as important as accomplishing this goal is the cooperative effort involved. For it to even have a chance of working, millions of people will have to take a few minutes out of an autumn night to join together and do one thing. Millions more will be able to participate by watching the show. For five minutes, we can all be focused on sharing this collaborative work of art. We can all touch the Moon, if only with our laser pointers.

The Details:

On October 27th at 11:00 P.M. EDT (10:00 P.M. CDT, 9:00 P.M. MDT, 8:00 P.M. PDT) and again on November 24th at 11:00 P.M. EST (10:00 P.M. CST, 9:00 P.M. MST, 8:00 P.M. PST), everyone who has a laser pointer and a clear view of the first-quarter Moon should turn on their pointers and aim them at the moon, just behind (to the left, or East) of the terminator (the line where the sunlight stops). The illustration at the top of this page shows approximately where you should aim. Continue to shine your pointer at this spot for five minutes. That's it.

These dates and times were selected for a couple of reasons: the Moon will be just beyond the first quarter, giving us a dark portion to attempt to illuminate; it will be visible for a long enough period of time that everyone on the continent can participate, and to thereby maximize our chance of being able to see any success at painting a red spot of light on it; it's a weekend, so people (particularly schoolchildren) can stay up a little late on the East Coast to attempt this.

Why two attempts? Because it's almost certain that some parts of the continent will have cloud cover, and so not be able to participate. By attempting this twice, maybe everyone will get to see it work at least once. If large sections of the continent have weather problems, we'll see about scheduling another attempt in the spring.

So . . .

Make sure the batteries for your laser pointer are fresh, tell your friends about this website, and hope for clear weather. Let's see if we can Paint the Moon!