What Happens If Everyone Lasers the Moon at Once?

8 billion lasers vs. the Moon: the Moon wins. Pilots don't. 🌕💚 Sources: • NASA NSSDC – Moon Fact Sheet (mean distance 384,400 km, radius 1,737.4 km, solar irradiance 1,361 W/m²): https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html • US FDA – Important information for laser pointer manufacturers (laser pointers are limited to 5 mW, Class IIIa): https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/laser-products-and-instruments/important-information-laser-pointer-manufacturers • Edmund Optics – Ultra-bright green laser pointer #55-789 (beam divergence under 1 mrad, so ~400 km wide at the Moon): https://www.edmundoptics.com/p/ultra-bright-green-laser-pointer/12593/ • T. Murphy, UC San Diego – APOLLO lunar laser ranging basics (the atmosphere spreads a beam to ~2 km at the Moon): https://tmurphy.physics.ucsd.edu/apollo/basics.html • Calculation: 8 billion × 5 mW = 40 MW; sunlight on the Moon ≈ 1,361 W/m² × π × (1,737.4 km)² ≈ 1.3×10¹⁶ W, about 300 million times more • FAA (25 Feb 2026) – Laser strikes on aircraft drop for second year in a row (10,994 reports in 2025): https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/laser-strikes-aircraft-drop-second-year-row • LaserPointerSafety.com – hazard distances for a 5 mW green pointer under FAA exposure limits (flash blindness ~260 ft, distraction ~2.2 miles): https://www.laserpointersafety.com Video: 3D animation by FunNotSoFun (space scenes are not to scale). • Earth day map and clouds: Solar System Scope, CC BY 4.0: https://www.solarsystemscope.com/textures/ #shorts #funfact #notsofunfact #facts #moon #laser #space