Moonlight Generator

I was intrigued with the moonlight generator. Later as an adult, I tried my hand at building one with some small amount of success. It ran on a very high voltage to ionize a small amount of mercury vapor in several circular glass tubes that were basically evacuated to a low pressure. This produced an x-ray which was changed to visible light with a thin coating of phosphor deposited on the inside walls of the tubes. I placed the circular tubes into a barrel resembling a Newtonian telescope tube. A reflector was fitted to the rear wall and collimators were set up to keep any direct light from coming out of the front. The back of each collimator was also painted with reflective paint. The paint was the same on the rear reflector. I adjusted the color temperature to the exact temperature of the moon. I think it was around 8000 degrees Kelvin.
When I turned it on I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears. This thing made a soft humming sound when it started and lit up rather sequentially. My feet immediately got very cold and i shut the thing off and stared at it for what seemed like an hour. When i started it again, I noticed the light was getting stronger and stronger. It finally settle to a rather bright foggy light that really threw no shadow until you got quite far from it. The whole room was a strange greenish white and when i closed my eyes the light was still there. It emitted no heat whatsoever, but the high voltage transformers got quite warm. Stupidly, I put my forearm in front of the beam. The effect was to make the hairs stand up on my arm but little else. I say it was stupid because it's not smart to experiment on one's self. I don't know if the effect was psychological or physical but it was an eerie feeling like a breeze hitting my skin.
I believe that it delivers a very strong version of the same light that comes from the moon. This has been referred to in many stories about werewolves and is apparently an ingredient for making the whole thing happen.
I have since put the thing in the attic and try not to think of it too much. When they let me out I may go visit it again.....maybe not.