Using Giant Mirrors to Light up Dark Valleys - In Focus - The Atlantic

Using Giant Mirrors to Light up Dark Valleys - In Focus - The Atlantic: The villages of Rjukan, Norway, and Viganella, Italy, are both situated in deep valleys where mountains block the sun's rays for up to six months every year. To illuminate those darker winter months, the two towns have built gigantic mirrors that track the sun and reflect daylight downwards. Viganella completed its huge computer-controlled mirror in 2006, and Rjukan followed suit just this month, mounting a mirror that will reflect a 600 square meter (6,500 square foot) beam of sunshine into the town square below. [9 photos]