Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

Buy Site Supporter Role (remove some ads) | LPF Donations

Links below open in new window

FrozenGate by Avery

Would you be able to see a laser beam in space?

L

Lunatics

0
Joined
Apr 19, 2011
Messages
19
Points
3
So...last night this thought randomly popped into my head so I figured I would ask here...would you be able to see a laser beam in space?

I don't mean shining one from the ground up through the atmosphere into space then seeing it, but say if you were on the ISS or somewhere out of the atmosphere in space and you shined one of the typical 1+w 445 lasers most people on here have out the window there....would you be able to see the beam in space?
 





Short version: no. (:p)

Seriously, no, if there's no dust or something other, you can't see laser beams (the "beam" that you can actually see, in reality, is the part of the light reflected from dust, mist and other particles in the air, not the beam itself) ..... and in the space is difficult to find something similar, except in specific zones, so the beam will be practically invisible, except maybe if directed almost exactly at you.
 
That's what I figured, thanks. On the other hand without all of the junk in the air, would you be able to get a lot more distance out of the laser then down on earth?
 
^^^Correct. In a perfect vacuum, in the absence of other forces, the light would travel indefinitely. Of course in that scenario you would never know it's there:p
 
I read that someone was able to see laser light reflected by the retroreflectors on the moon with only their eyes during a new moon.

The laser was a 30W green.
 
What about this one here? :D


Starfire_Optical_Range_-_three_lasers_into_space.jpg



seen on:

Starfire Optical Range - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
BShanahan14rulz said:
I read that someone was able to see laser light reflected by the retroreflectors on the moon with only their eyes during a new moon.

The laser was a 30W green.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't happen to have a link to that you would? I saw an article where they talk about sending a laser through a telescope to see it reflect off of the retroreflectors. Would anyone happen to know how powerful of a telescope/laser you would need for that? aka, if I buy a semi cheap telescope could I do this with my 1.2w blue laser? I think that would be pretty fucking cool to be able to do.
 
@Burnsy - LOL! I suspected that was coming... seen that picture a few times. Can you imagine how awesome it looked live though:eek:

@Lunatics - Clean up your language a little please... at least stick an asterisks in there... profanity is kind of frowned upon in public forums.
 
I don't think that 1.2W of 445nm would be strong enough to be able to see the light from the retroreflectors on the moon, even through a telescope, especially considering the terrible divergence to be found with 1.2Ws of 445nm.

That said, I think that the retroreflectors on the moon are incredible... because they are one of the few things testable on Earth that *prove*, with certainty, that man went to the moon.
 
Wolfman29 said:
I don't think that 1.2W of 445nm would be strong enough to be able to see the light from the retroreflectors on the moon, even through a telescope, especially considering the terrible divergence to be found with 1.2Ws of 445nm.

That said, I think that the retroreflectors on the moon are incredible... because they are one of the few things testable on Earth that *prove*, with certainty, that man went to the moon.
Click to expand...
I kind of figured it wouldn't be able to happen, but like you said I find them incredible and thought it would be amazing to be able to see them with things I own.

@Infinitus I apologize for using my every day language to express the extreme level of emotion I would have if I could do something such as that and explain how awesome I thought it would be. I have been on plenty of forums before and know how they work. Any forum I have been on either frowns upon using bad language and in turn filters it to block it, or they don't care and don't filter it and you can say what you want. How am I supposed to know whether or not this forum has a word filter? I typed my feelings thinking if it's not allowed, it will be censored and if not then it is allowed. Not only that, but putting characters in your word to by pass filters on most forums to still show your word or block one letter so people still know what you said, is usually a bannable offense. So excuse me for not putting a * in my word or using other characters to type it and assuming if it wasn't allowed then it would be locked. That being said I looked in the welcome section and the rules and stickies section and did not see anything about "cursing is not allowed". I'm not trying to be a d-...d**k but I mean, if it's frowned upon it should be censored like most forums and if it's allowed then it's allowed no?
 
We don't censor anything here because we don't want this to become a policed forum, necessarily. The mods already do enough here, and it would be a pain to look for everyone avoiding a filter. That said, however, it's just frowned upon to swear here. It's like swearing in public. Some people do it, and some people get away with it, but when you are around a family at the movie theater, are you going to swear? Probably not - and you never know who is a guest on this forum.
 
***Warning, Rant Response Ahead***

Lunatics said:
@Infinitus I apologize for using my every day language to express the extreme level of emotion I would have if I could do something such as that and explain how awesome I thought it would be.
Click to expand...

Personally I'm not offended at all, but your everyday language does not fit in everywhere. This is one of those "everywhere" places.

Lunatics said:
I have been on plenty of forums before and know how they work.
Click to expand...

Great "O All Knowing Master of Forums", but it really doesn't look like you do, otherwise there would be no need to write this. (Can ya sense the sarcasm?)

Lunatics said:
Any forum I have been on either frowns upon using bad language and in turn filters it to block it, or they don't care and don't filter it and you can say what you want.
Click to expand...

This Forum is not any other forum, it is what it is, which is LPF, and it is your responsibility to adjust to it not the other way around. For example if someone were to say I know a lot of guys like you and they are dumb@$$E$, therefore you must be a dumb@$$... wouldn't you be annoyed?

Lunatics said:
How am I supposed to know whether or not this forum has a word filter?
Click to expand...

Maybe the question you should ask is why YOU need to know about a language filter in the first place? For example I don't need to know about all security measures at airports, because I don't take anything dangerous with me.

Lunatics said:
I typed my feelings thinking if it's not allowed, it will be censored and if not then it is allowed.
Click to expand...

So if you do something wrong, it is only wrong if it is not permitted to occur, and conversely you imply that if something is permitted to occur, it is therefore no longer wrong but right?

Lunatics said:
Not only that, but putting characters in your word to by pass filters on most forums to still show your word or block one letter so people still know what you said, is usually a bannable offense.
Click to expand...

You remember the "at least" words I used. It's preferred that you don't use profanity at all... again personally I could care less, but this is a public forum. Fact is, there is more freedom here, at the same time that means greater responsibility.

Lunatics said:
So excuse me for not putting a * in my word or using other characters to type it and assuming if it wasn't allowed then it would be locked.
Click to expand...

LOL, you're excused. Feel better now?

Lunatics said:
That being said I looked in the welcome section and the rules and stickies section and did not see anything about "cursing is not allowed".
Click to expand...

Really? See, I know there is a thread on etiquette in the welcome section, that touches upon similar issues :eek: it's even a sticky!
http://laserpointerforums.com/f37/something-say-about-etiquette-55673.html

In the rules section there aren't that many threads, and fairly little traffic, so one wonders, how you, the master of all forums managed to miss this:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f36/unacceptable-language-59669.html

Lunatics said:
I'm not trying to be a d-...d**k
Click to expand...

You're not trying? Really? because your rant says otherwise.

Lunatics said:
but I mean, if it's frowned upon it should be censored like most forums and if it's allowed then it's allowed no?
Click to expand...

No it is not. This forum offers a lot of freedom, but that means you also have a responsibility not to abuse that freedom.

If that doesn't work, there are plenty of places that censor language which may be more appropriate for you.

Maybe next time just make the small change that's politely asked of you, and should be common sense in the first place?
 
Can a mod just close this? The question was answered, I'm not trying to start fights with people and clearly this is heading in a bad direction. I truly am sorry that I posted it and it didn't make you happy, you can take it how you want to that's fine I cannot control your opinion but I am. You don't need to attack me for saying why I posted it and thought it was okay all I was trying to do was explain myself from my past experience on numerous other forums. I never said I was a "knowing master of forums", I just said I have been on quite a lot of them and they all worked the same way. This one is different, you proved me wrong congrats I won't do it again.

I appreciate the answers to my questions and other links, I think the thread served its purpose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top