laser pen/light

[sam mayo]

i brought a laser pen from amazon for a whopping £4.50 broke the bank big time,the reason being is that i have a standard finder scope which is lowsy(?) at best and i find it nigh on impossible to find dso's .

last night i found the triangulum galaxy with mk1's and stellerium and the held laser against scope and pointed both together at were i though the dso was and bingo first time every time found lots on my musts see list,

does the green laser ruin dark adaption? because its very powerful and was impressed!

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I doubt it ruins dark adaption unless you look right at it. But i have heard stories of people getting knocks on the door by police for shining a penlight at an aircraft, albeit accidentally.

[The Sailor]

The green laser will ruin your day/night if your not careful, just be careful where you point it and switch off if aircraft in the vicinity. Remember to switch off after you locate your target, only use it for slewing.

Jim

[RikM]

As long as you're careful where you point it, you will be fine with the laser. As above, only use it for finding things, switch it off while spending time looking at the object.

One word of caution though, laser pointers are not at all popular at star parties (apart from organised sky tours). Getting green laser tracks through other peoples deep sky images doesn't go down well.

I still prefer a Rigel or Telrad

[cotterless45]

Yep, can't beat a Telrad. I use a laser pointer on the GOTO mount. When something good is found, a short burst of the laser allows other scopes to find the location, nice,

Nick.

[JamesF]

Have to admit that I'm very happy with the Telrad on my 10" dob. It's so easy to get close enough to be able to see the target straight away in my 32mm ep even with its relatively narrow field of view. If I get an 82 degree ep then it'll probably be impossible to miss anything

James

[cotterless45]

Yep, try the 15mm 82degree SW Panorama, space walking, tasty,

Nick.

[sam mayo]

thanks, i thought some one was winding me up when they said not to shine it at planes oops wont be doing that.i was trying to remember what your finder was rik was very impressed when you showed me compared to my standard.is there much difference between telrad and rigel on quality price?

i am saving up for a big buy before my 1st star party in october a bday prezzy to myself so thought laser would help till then,

good job you said about star partys i was looking forward to using it there need to start thinking more thanks

[RikM]

There is no significant difference between the Rigel that I have and the Telrad. Same sort of price, same sort of build quality, the Telrad has three circles instead of two in the Rigel, so some people find that easier to use, can't say it has ever bothered me though. With your 250PX, the larger size of the Telrad won't be a problem either. They're about the same size as the ST80 scope we were using

[sam mayo]

ok great i will join the rigel group then,thanks for help and reply's

sam

[Merlin66]

FYI

Because of the "terrorist concerns" hand held laser pointers are illegal in the state of Victoria, Australia.

(I've spent the last three months caught up in bureaucratic red tape trying to import lasers I use to measure and calibrate spectroscopes....)

[Leo.A]

I wish I could use a laser pointer in Australia. Unfortuantely, due to idiots going to the airport at night and pointing them at landing planes, they have been banned.

Apparently I can get police permission to purchase and use one but it's a lot of trouble to go through and I believe I have to be a member of an official astronomy club to obtain the license.

There's no local astronomy clubs near by!

Idiots spoil it for everyone unfortunately!

[JamesF]

There's no local astronomy clubs near by!

Are there any local ones further away?

You can at least fix that particular problem. You can be your own first member

James

[Merlin66]

Leo,

Here in Victoria the Commissioner of Police exemption permit needs the same paperwork as a full gun licence (!) valid for three years and costs $170.

[MarkMayf]

Are red ones likely to land you on the naughty step if you inadvertently point it in the wrong direction?

Using one of those would be much easier than trying to describe to a friend 'the third star across from the white one!'

[sam mayo]

thats crazy

[Ad Astra]

Unfortunately, red lasers don't have the same beam energy, and they radiate at a frequency (colour) at which your retina is not very sensitive. Your colour vision is most sensitive in the green range, so it is much easier for you to pick up scattered light from the beam visually.

I have a GLP from Ho-Tech that has magnets on it (for mounting on a steel OTA) and a 30-second function so that the beam turns off automatically. Comes with a case, a belt holster, and also has both red and white LED's for using as a torch when observing. About $100 and very much worth the money.

For star parties though, I use a GLP from Atlas Nova, these are made by a former boffin for NASA and vastly more intense than the ordinary GLP. As I understand from talking to the designer, the Atlas Nova pen uses a proprietary lens system to keep the beam 'micro-collimated' - compressing the beam thereby increases the intensity. These are about $130. I use them in my astronomy class, but I don't use them for finders much. Also, we have lots of airports here in Southern California, and I'm only about 10 miles away from March Air Force Base, so we get military flights overhead here as well. I'm VERY careful about pointing my GLP up in the sky, but for introducing new people to the sky, it is simply invaluable.

Dan

Are red ones likely to land you on the naughty step if you inadvertently point it in the wrong direction?

Using one of those would be much easier than trying to describe to a friend 'the third star across from the white one!'

[sam mayo]

isnt that why night vision goggles are in gren due to it being the easiest for us to see too?

[The Sailor]

isnt that why night vision goggles are in gren due to it being the easiest for us to see too?

Have I missed something during my army career?

Jim

[sam mayo]

sorry have i got that wrong it was a stab in the darksort of apologies if so

[sam mayo]

i thought your eyes are more sensitive to green than any other colour thats why they use green in night vision(only seen in movies though ) please correct if wrong would love to know thanks sam

[The Sailor]

Okay, here in the real world at night time we use red lights, this enables anyone using the lights to switch them off and not have to wait for the eyes to adjust back to night vision.

All night vision goggles, sights and whatever equipment one is using to see through at night is green, that is infrared, thermal and image intensifiers, I am not clued up on why they are green but I can say that after using this equipment I have always had to wait a number of minutes for the eye to adjust to darkness. I say eye because we always closed the other eye to ensure one eye was adjusted to night vision at all time.

Another thing, infared light is made by the use of an IR light attached to the sight, image intensifiers use the ambient light which is always there to see whatever is in front of the sights, no requirement for artifical light. I can't wait for someone more clever than me to explain .

Jim