Green lasers: how much power is too much?

[turbo]

Naturally, I would take into consideration aircraft just as I would take into consideration buildings or other occupied structures when aiming the device. I appreciate the warning, and vow to abide by it.

And stick with the low-powered laser pointers sold by astronomy supply-houses. They do a good job. You should realize that any kids seeing that neat pointer will want to play with it, so never leave it unattended.

 

[Pengwuino]

Warning: When using laser pointers in the sky to assist with astronomy, one should ensure that the area of sky the laser is shone into is clear of any aeroplanes or other vehicles. In some places it is illegal to shine a laser pointer at aircraft, either intentionally or unintentionally. In all cases, care should be taken when using such an instrument.

reminds me of when my astronomy prof was pointing out a constellation and a few stars...

Oh yes and our university is right next to an international airport.

 

[Count Iblis]

This is a fun problem to solve. Suppose you are at the International Space Station and you overfly some country at the night in the Earth's shade (so the Space Station is not lit by sunlight and is thus not visible from the ground). Then you shine your 5 mW green laserpointer toward the ground at some person looking in the direction of you. How bright will the lightsource be to the person in magnitudes?

 

[Borek]

This is a red laser rated at 5mW.

No idea how the green one will work, but with a red one you may forget about using it as a pointer.

To take this picture I had to put the laser directly above the camera, so that the picture is taken almost exactly in the line of laser beam. Otherwise - if you look from the side - beam is invisible.

Then it was possible to take this picture only because there was a light haze/fog - and the beam had something to disperse on. However, that means that the beam is visible when stars are not visible - and vice versa

 

[Pengwuino]

Looks like someones house is about to be bombed...

 

[Creator]

Looks like someones house is about to be bombed...

Actually those are infrared lasers so that no one can SEE that they are about to be bombed.
..
.

 

[justwondering]

One thing you don't have to worry about is the recoil when you switch the laser on.

But you may be concerned about the battery life of some higher power pointer lasers. Some use those tiny AAA batteries, just to keep it very small, even though the larger AA size batteries usually are the same price!