Laser for Astronomy (100mW or 150mW)

Hi guys!

Few months ago I bought a laser in dealextreme to give to a friend. I don't remember exactly what laser was because now dx don't sell lasers, but I think that was this:

200mW 532nm Green Laser Pen (2*AAA) - Free Shipping

200mW => 27$

The problem is that this web (yourlasers.com) is from china, don't accept paypal, only CC and hasn't a SSL certificate, so I don't want to send my CC in plaintext around the world.

Then, I searched another sites to bough the laser and found lazerer.com. In this web price are very more expensive, but I thought maybe is because laser has more quality and the power is certificated.

Exactly, I'm thinking to buy one of these:

LZTN - 532nm 100mW Smallest Green Laser Pointer

LZTN - 532nm 150mW Smallest Green Laser Pointer

both lasers has the same video (lol). So, what laser is the laser from the video?

The laser is for do lessons of astronomy, so it's important to see the line of the laser in the sky.

What do you think? And why is very more expensive than yourlasers.com?

Another question, I'm seeing that I need a battery and charger, so you recommend me buy also in lanzerer, or maybe this is more cheaper in dealextreme?

Thanks in advanced!!!

You should get the whole package from Lazerer
100mW will be very visible at evening/night - You'll see a nice beam

And the lasers are more expensive becouse of the better quality and power

Good luck!

TuhOz said:

You should get the whole package from Yourlasers
100mW will be very visible at evening/night - You'll see a nice beam

And the lasers are more expensive becouse of the better quality and power

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Yourlasers or lazerer??

Another question, someone know a blue 100mW laser (~50$) with a nice beam??

Thanks

150 to 200mw is at least 10x what you need for an astro pointer.

You can run a 5mw greenie just fine.

xmas one said:

150 to 200mw is at least 10x what you need for an astro pointer.

You can run a 5mw greenie just fine.

Click to expand...

Yes, but as they say, bigger is better.

Buy a Super Overspec laser from Swimminsurfer's shop. My Kinda overspec has a very nice beam at night.

Also, blue is much less visible than green.

be aware a high power green's beam will likely "kill" your night vision. a 10 - 15mW green beam will be easily visible for pointing purposes.

100mW-150mW green is way too much. You will get complaints from fellow astronomers who night vision is ruined by your green. Low power green works fine and has much longer runtimes.

Are you sure that 10mW or 15mW works fine for astronomy?? is the beam visible to point stars etc?

Thanks.

hilargi35 said:

Are you sure that 10mW or 15mW works fine for astronomy?? is the beam visible to point stars etc?

Thanks.

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I have used a 5mw to point a stars just fine I would post a pic however the laser recently broke.... I am getting a new much higher quality one though

I have a couple of friends and one neighbor (college professor) that all star gaze 2 of them have 50mw 532s and the neighbor has a 100mw that I showed him where to get it (Lazerer) and he loves it, he has had it for about 1 month he also has a older one a 30mw. He likes the 100mw better.

I have had an 8mw green for several months now and it looks great at night, 10-15mw will be very visible for pointing out stars. I got mine from optotronics, amazing customer service and each laser is tested for output. He writes the power on the paper that comes with the laser and they are almost always overspec. +10mw Green Laser is a little pricey at ~$48 US shipped, but the quality is very good.

How visible would 100mws of 405nm be in a dark sky?

my 750mW 405 is just visible

ColdWelder said:

How visible would 100mws of 405nm be in a dark sky?

Click to expand...

Not very visible. You can compare it to ~20mw green laser afaik

Hello, everyone.

I have the same problem, though I've narrowed my choice of company to yourlasers.com and lazerer.com. Yourlasers.com seem to be cheaper and that doesn't give me confidence. In addition, I've been lurking around here and saw lots of praise for lazerer.com.

Being an amateur astronomer, I have some limited experience with green laser pointers up to 50 mW of power, though I've never seen a beam with a verified 50 mW of power so I might be mislead.
I own one of those typical pen-like lasers of the mentioned power, and it gives a pretty strong beam very useful for giving astronomy lectures to people up to some 5 meters away if the surroundings are quite dark.
The only problem is that NiMH batteries don't give enough voltage so the best results are with fresh alkaline ones, which is costly.
The beam is very nice in the complete darkness, but let's be honest - those conditions are rare in urban areas.

Some of you say that 5 mW is enough. I'd say you've never attended a skygazing event. I isn't enough, unless you're in a complete darkness, cuddled with the one you're lecturing to. You can't expect the audience to be stuffed around you. 5 meter radius is a convenient measure. Add city glow and you get some 30 mW of minimal power for creating a convenient beam that no one will lost out of their sight.

Therefore my plan was to buy a one of those robust lasers with at least one safety mechanism (key and a shutter would be great) and a 18650 battery with charger.
Focusing would be cool because sometimes a thick light pillar is very useful, and if it can light a match in focused mode, that's great. It would be very cool to have a laser of true 100 mW of power and not one of those cheap crappy ones that leak lots of IR.
I don't really care for more, at least not yet.

I'd say my limit is around $50, battery, charger and shipping included. Any recommendations? :undecided:


BTW, regarding the chargers... I see they're almost always rated "AC 100-240 V US plug". In Europe, we use 220 V, 50 Hz AC, but US plugs never. Is there a cheap solution to this?