# Two lights **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 15, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572 "2015-12-15T22:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/41 "2015-12-16T13:53:04Z")
Come to the light, Carol Anne. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/42 "2015-12-16T14:06:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Jesus Christ, you’re not coming back, are you? Give him at least 3 days. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/43 "2015-12-16T14:38:29Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > Give him at least 3 days. I thought it was three steps, mister. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/44 "2015-12-16T16:46:10Z")
Shhhh… listen… [the lights are calling!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL8F2B_FTk4) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/45 "2015-12-16T17:51:26Z")
> [@Mikahw](#): > > If this God guy wanted the moon to be a light that ruled the night, why did he make it orbit the planet so that it appears during the day half the time? Another hilarious design flaw. Not to mention tha most of the time, it’s only partly lit. > [@](#): > > And don’t get me started on why he’d create something as pointless as Mercury. now here, I disagree. It’s quite useful for making thermometers. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/46 "2015-12-16T17:56:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > now here, I disagree. It’s quite useful for making thermometers. Too right! > [@](#): > > I see a little silhouetto of a man > Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango > Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me > Gallileo, Gallileo, > Gallileo, Gallileo, > Gallileo Figaro - magnifico Mercury was definitely not pointless!! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/47 "2015-12-16T18:32:37Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > OP was obviously referring to [Two Lights State Park](http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/details.pl?park_id=28) here in Maine. If you like lobster, [The Lobster Shack](http://lobstershacktwolights.com/) is the place to be. > > Me? I hate lobster. Maybe that’s why I’m an atheist. No, you have it backwards. It’s _ **because** _ you have rejected the Lord that you are cursed to live in the land of plenty’o’lobster yet unable to enjoy its bounty. For it is written: When Jesus came into the coasts of Maine, he sayeth unto his disciples, upon this rock I will build my Lobster Shack, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And God made two Lights, the greater Light that Man in his hunger might find his way hither, the lesser Light to show the way out of the parking lot at night. But he who hath rejected the Lord shall be denied this bounty; verily, the unbeliever shall be scorned as the equal of one who claims he “forgot his wallet”, and shall be cast into the outer darkness. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/48 "2015-12-16T18:48:06Z")
Praise the lord and pass the drawn butter!! ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/49 "2015-12-16T19:16:55Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Which one is the light that never goes out? That’s the one in the fridge! > [@E-DUB](#): > > “There are **four** lights.” Yeah, dammit, I wanted to post that too! > [@Miller](#): > > I got the lights, but they clashed with the drapes, so I donated them to Goodwill. I really wish you had misspelled that as “Godwill”. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Telling us… the Antichrist is coming by sea? I love this one > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Surely one of them would be the light fantastic? You mean the big “4” flared up to call the Team? ---
**Author:** ![Annadroid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Annadroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annadroid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/50 "2015-12-16T19:48:59Z")
Flyer, each of those articles you posted links to explains what you want to know. None of them say the moon emits light. That is because the moon only reflects light from our sun and a very tiny amount from other stars. The cones in our eyes allow us to see colours. At night our cones do not work very well, so distinguishing colours is severely limited. The moon is not always the same distance from Earth so light intensity varies. > [@Flyer](#): > > … > Since you are so much wiser than everybody else, perhaps you can explain how an imaginary light creates shadows. Psilocybins? LSD? ---
**Author:** ![Annadroid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Annadroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annadroid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/51 "2015-12-16T19:56:41Z")
Rowe’s Rule (1939): the odds are 5 to 6 that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/52 "2015-12-16T20:09:10Z")
> [@Annadroid](#): > > Rowe’s Rule (1939): the odds are 5 to 6 that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train. Never tell me the odds… ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/53 "2015-12-16T20:11:21Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, that is typical of a primitave society, but now we have scientific knowledge that contradicts this: the moon produces no light at all; it just reflects the light from the sun. Yet another error in the ‘inerrant’ Bible. Depends on how technically picky one wants to get. The moon, like any object not at absolute zero, emits blackbody radiation proportionate to its blackbody temperature, in this case an [average of 270.7°K](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html). Humans can’t see this radiation directly and I doubt that’s what the Bible was referring to as the “lesser light”, but still, it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/54 "2015-12-16T20:13:01Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Which one is the light that never goes out? Apparently it’s [this](http://www.centennialbulb.org/) one. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/55 "2015-12-16T20:20:48Z")
> [@Teachtru](#): > > Is anyone here aware of the two lights that God has presented to mankind? As in nukelar and atomic? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/56 "2015-12-16T20:34:20Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Depends on how technically picky one wants to get. The moon, like any object not at absolute zero, emits blackbody radiation proportionate to its blackbody temperature, in this case an [average of 270.7°K](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html). Humans can’t see this radiation directly and I doubt that’s what the Bible was referring to as the “lesser light”, but still, it’s there. Surely that radiation is just dissipation of heat energy from the sun, though? Or are you saying the Moon actually _generates_ that radiation somehow? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/57 "2015-12-16T20:38:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Surely that radiation is just dissipation of heat energy from the sun, though? Or are you saying the Moon actually _generates_ that radiation somehow? Are you saying that in space, ripening green cheese radiates no smell? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/58 "2015-12-16T20:41:15Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/59 "2015-12-16T20:53:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Surely that radiation is just dissipation of heat energy from the sun, though? Or are you saying the Moon actually _generates_ that radiation somehow? Actually a very small amount of it is probably generated by internal and geological processes such as tidal forces, but most of it does indeed come from solar heating. That’s beside the point, though, because – if one wanted to pursue this particular technicality – the point is that it’s quite different than “reflected sunlight”. It’s in a completely different spectrum and it’s not dependent on anything being reflected. If you observed the moon (or any object) in the right electromagnetic spectrum in total darkness you would see it glowing at its blackbody temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Annadroid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Annadroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annadroid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572/60 "2015-12-16T21:08:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Surely that radiation is just dissipation of heat energy from the sun, though? Or are you saying the Moon actually _generates_ that radiation somehow? Technically, the moon reradiates the energy. I sponges up radiation from the sun and stars and reradiates its own version. And yes, it is very temperature specific. This is why there is a slight reddish tinge to the light from the moon. Low temp is red, then higher is orange, yellow, white, and then very high temp is blue. The people that wrote the Bible would not know that, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-lights/740572.md?page=4)