[meteorite-list] green laser pointer

[MexicoDoug]

Hi Steve,

The color?!! (or is this a trick question?) heh heh

Also the sensitivity of our eyes is such that at low power, we can see the 
beam of the green, though the red is much less apparent.

50mW and above might damage the eyes of children playing with it, based on 
my 5mW perfectly functional pointer, so be careful to keep it out of the 
reach of enthusiastic Luke Skywalkers.  You might prefer a 5mW since it is 
less distracting when astronomers go out in groups (maybe has a 10 meter 
radius around the user where the beam can be seen easily) - the common and 
economical availability of these now cause annoying light polution sometimes 
at astronomical parties and can ruin a lot of astrophotography opportunities 
in the peace and sweet private solace of the night sky.

If you like a loud attention grabbing laser, though, for many years 
Monterrey, Mexico has had a green laser on top of a monolith called the "el 
faro de comercio" ("The Beacon of Commerce").  Most of the time is hasn't 
functioned, thankfully, but now it is back up and running.  It can be seen 
across the entire metropolitan basin area as a vivid green beam that 
interferes with everyone's peaceful appreciation of the night sky. 
Unfortunately it is used more frequently than as originally thought, that 
is, on holidays.  The Monterrey laser sitting on top its wierd thin red 
monolithic (another toy that had a high price tag), drunkenly scans the 
night sky and announces how cool the city is, all 20,000 mW of coolness for 
those so inclined.  There used to be three colors, I believe 15,000 mW each, 
in a more gaudy and technically complex design to really light up every 
corner of the sky all night so you wouldn't forget where you were, like it 
or not, but as many poorly thought out civic projects, it all quickly broke 
down and wasn't too useful. Thus, it was scaled back to just a single light 
near the optimal eye sensitivity - green, and resumed calling attention to 
itself again a few months ago.

Have a look, but not directly unless you are looking for a hole in your 
head...
http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2003/05/191929.jpg

Best wishes,
Doug


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "steve arnold" <stevenarnold60120 at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 11:18 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] green laser pointer


>I just got a 50mw green laser.What is the difference
> between that and a red laser?
>
> Steve R.Arnold,chicago,Ill,Usa!!
>  Collecting Meteorites since 06/19/1999!!
>
>
>
>
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