Please check my laser pointer summary - did I get it all right?

[Sealy]

Hello all!

I am writing a small section about laser pointers for my UFO sightings handbook.

Would anyone like to review it to make sure I have done my research correctly?

Here is the text:

Laser Pointers
Laser Pointers are really useful to point out where a flash bulb just was to the group, small alleged satellites that are hard to see, showing off constellations, etc. They are also used as part of the original protocol to signal location of the group to ET - not necessary, but fun. Be careful though - temporarily blindness has occurred. Don’t use powerful lasers! You might make it a rule of the group to keep all lasers under 5mW. A laser that is 5mW or less won’t permanently injure anyone. Anything more is a risk for eye injury, and unnecessary. As for color, go for green (532nm). This wavelength is best for the dark adapted eye and appears 35 times brighter than red lasers of the same strength.

Never point directly at anything you see up in the sky. It could be a helicopter or some other human craft. This is a serious federal offence: a $100,000 fine and/or 5 years in prison up here in Canada. Even if it is not a human craft, ET may be affected by flash-blinding too!

Only buy from sellers that can guarantee the measured optical output!!! A 2013 study found that 90% of laser pointers are over-spec. Laser pointers can be easily under-spec too. If manufacturers want to make lasers that are within the legal limit for use outside, they will advertise it as, “less than 5mW” and make it about 1mW or 2mW, well within the limit. If they want to make laser pointers that get good ratings and sell more, they will call it 5mW and make it 30mW. Cheap laser pointers also don’t have a stable power supply so they can’t be reliably tested. You also don’t want a cheap laser pointer because they may be lacking an infrared filter which, without getting too complicated, is more risky to use around reflective surfaces.

Reputable sellers:
zbolt.com
Constant On/Off Green Laser Pointer$48 USD, AAA batteries, guaranteed to be b/t 4mW and 5mW
Astronomy Green Laser $58 USD CR123A batteries, guaranteed to be b/t 4mW and 5mW

www.laserglow.com
Anser Series 5mW 532nm $39 USD, guaranteed to be b/t 3mW and 5mW, if you ask in the comments form when you order you can ask them to cherry pick one for you between 4.5mW and 5mW.

www.mylaserpoints.com
SKY 5mW 532nm Green Laser Pointer Pen $39.99 USD AAA batteries, when you place the order you must ask them in a separate email to test it and install an infrared filter.

 

[steve001]

You forgot that actually signaling an alien craft may lead to being probed in an awkward place.

 

[Eracoy]

You forgot that actually signaling an alien craft may lead to being probed in an awkward place.

They'll thread their lenses into your 12mm module, if you know what I mean :tinfoil:

 

[CynicalBrad]

uhmm. Borrowing Alien Laser's signature for this.

People Ask
Why wouldn't you point a laser at the sky?  - > I Say
Because the death star that is floating above earth secretly... may think of it as a challenge and shoot their laser at us in return.... Do you really want that? —
_
This is what happen if you shine the laser at the ( UFO ) it may shine back as
( Alien Laser )

 

[paul1598419]

You've got to be kidding. :crackup:

 

[Encap]

You've got to be kidding. :crackup:

Exactly -- pretty pathetic even for wild goose chase pretend/delusional and dysfunctional. If it isn't a joke, same goes.
Who knows maybe he is making a business of it selling a pretend world handbook to people who don't know any better--might be the case?

Sealy: the answer is No, so far-- obvious reasons.

Tell people to consult laserpointersafety.com for credible information about lasers if needed --see: http://www.laserpointersafety.com/FAQ/FAQ.html]Laser Pointer Safety - FAQ

 

[diachi]

Exactly -- pretty pathetic even for wild goose chase pretend/delusional and dysfunctional. If it isn't a joke, same goes.
Who knows maybe he is making a business of it selling a pretend world handbook to people who don't know any better--might be the case?

Sealy: the answer is No, so far-- obvious reasons.

Tell people to consult laserpointersafety.com for credible information about lasers if needed --see: http://www.laserpointersafety.com/FAQ/FAQ.html]Laser Pointer Safety - FAQ

People would still buy it to be fair, assuming it's otherwise half decent. Alex Jones manages to sell his "SUPER MALE VITALITY™" and "CAVEMAN BONE BROTH™" stuff (InfoWarsShop.com, GET YOUR QUANTUM IONIC WATER FILTERS HERE, IT STOPS THE GLOBALISTS!), people will buy anything, why not capitalize on that? A good salesman could sell sand to the Arabs. :crackup:

Not a dig at you Sealy, just making a point. :beer:

Good advice Encap.

 

[Encap]

People would still buy it to be fair, assuming it's otherwise half decent. Alex Jones manages to sell his "SUPER MALE VITALITY™" and "CAVEMAN BONE BROTH™" stuff (InfoWarsShop.com, GET YOUR QUANTUM IONIC WATER FILTERS HERE, IT STOPS THE GLOBALISTS!), people will buy anything, why not capitalize on that? A good salesman could sell sand to the Arabs. :crackup:

Not a dig at you Sealy, just making a point. :beer:

Good advice Encap.

True--entertainment businesses do well---people will spend any amount of time and money for entertainment of any kind they get wrapped up in. Look at the success of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and Harry Potter, SciFi and so on. The Ufology is a big business these days.
Is a business of people saying "wouldn't it be cool if there were alien spacecraft" and they aren't too bothered by the fact they cannot really prove or disprove their assertions. Ironically, if people insist on identifying UFOs as spacecraft piloted by alien beings, then they aren't unidentified anymore. :crackup:

Most Ufologists spend their time pushing conspiracy theories regarding government cover-ups when they run out of material to talk about and want create some added but bogus/phony credibility same as most conspiracy theories --it becomes a good $s business for those promoting them. Is interesting these people like to be "different", they like to rebel against authority and against official explanations, they don't want to be misled by some false information, they don't want to be naive and gullible. Rather ironically, people who believe in these conspiracy theories are naive, gullible and easily misled.

 

[Alaskan]

i might as well throw in, i just put my tin hat back on before beginning this post so i am in true form, not that i disbelieve, far from it, i've seen things I don't think were conventional aircraft, just don't know what they were but at the same time won't exclude any possibility.

My advice and FULL BRAIN DUMP on the subject:

I don't know if using visible light spectrum lasers is a good idea due to the problem with accidentally hitting conventional aircraft. let's say someone is convinced that light they see out there cannot be a conventional aircraft and they are certain it is a UFO, so they point right at some airplane or helicopter and end up in jail, further tarnishing the laser pointer hobby. Regarding your choice of green I'd like to point this out; if an alien were to visit us, I doubt very much their eye sensitivity would match the same portion of the spectrum our eyes are most sensitive, maybe their eyes are more sensitive to longer or shorter wavelengths? Maybe all of that is moot and their sophisticated sensing equipment can pick up any laser wavelength we can produce. If so, I'd go with IR and an IR wavelength which isn't easily detected by most cameras, yet at a wavelength which has fairly low atmospheric loss. Why avoid wavelengths camera's are sensitive at? Law enforcement use cameras on their aircraft, you don't want their attention falling upon you as someone trying to harass or impede them.



The above chart shows the general vertical atmospheric transmittance at IR wavelengths up to 1200 nm with red markers showing some of wavelengths the more common lasers operate at, or, near those wavelengths. Dark areas show low transmittance, light high transmittance, you will see i did not include laser wavelengths at the dark areas as I consider those wavelengths undesirable for long distance IR signalling. Another long wavelength on the surplus market with low atmospheric loss (which is far to the right side and off the above chart) is close to 1550 nm, a wavelength few cameras can detect. That would be a better choice, but the price goes up for much power there due to being less common. A second good choice with low atmospheric loss would be 1064 nm, but diodes at that wavelength are not very common and expensive, unless surplus.

IR laser diodes generally have poor divergence, unless single mode which are low power. Due to the relatively high divergence of the higher power multimode laser diodes (I presume most individuals would want to use power), larger diameter collimation lenses, up to 3 inches (larger is better for MM IR diodes, as big as you can handle) are probably needed but this is a good thing, making the power densities lower and therefore less dangerous compared to a laser beam only a few mm wide.. There are high power YAG's at the 1064 nm wavelength, but regardless if greatly expanded are still dangerous due to their high power densities.

All of the above said, maybe you don't really need to care about atmospheric transmittance for anything within a few miles, the beam could be picked up very easily with alien technologies, i bet, maybe even far away regardless of operating at a wavelength which is quickly absorbed by the atmosphere. Can you flash a alien? I don't know, would they care? Perhaps in the wrong way, chased away suspecting a LIDAR beam is trying to track them and shoot. Maybe the best thing to do is use a cheap eight dollar Chinese 532 nm laser pointer (~30-75+ mw) and just circle the object, but don't do it much, you could be perceived as trying to harass aircraft, even if using a low power 5 mw laser or not. Note: It is illegal to use a laser pointer to flash the pilot or passengers at any power level, even 1 mw, don't do it.

Maybe not the best idea, but I will throw it out is to use a 3 mw single mode 780 nm laser diode (maybe 100 mw is OK if converted to a line?) with a big lens for uber low divergence and put a 10 degree line lens in front of it so you can't miss hitting your target (since you cannot see where you are pointing at IR) but doing so you may risk a cop chopper coming down on you when they see it in their camera. Although, on second thought, go to 1550 nm for that if you can find a low power laser source at that wavelength, but you better use a really big plano-convex cylinder lens as both the expander and line-collimator in one to keep the divergence of the line in its opposite plane to a minimum because a huge amount of power is lost due to spreading, but at least then it is probably safe.

I am intrigued by the possibility of otherworldly visitors, maybe I just like Sci-Fi too much, but these are my "what IF they are real" ideas for signalling such exotic machines, imaginary or not, personally, my best guess is not imaginary in all cases. I started thinking what if, in regard to such possibilities a few years ago and these are the best ideas I've come up with but haven't built anything myself. Seeing a UFO can be a very rare thing, I don't know if it is worth your time trying, but I do know people who see things fairly regularly they swear are not conventional aircraft and I always like reading about their sightings or seeing their photo's. If I were to go UFO hunting, I wouldn't use a visible laser, asking for trouble these days. Using IR diodes over 5mw is probably illegal due to the power and more of a hazard than visible wavelength lasers due to having no blink response at IR, but you wouldn't be flashing high flying pilots if the wavelength were long enough to where they can't see it.

IDK, if you think it is worth your time, try.... report back how it goes. oK, tin hat coming off. I know guys, crazy stuff, but there are some crazy things going on we don't fully understand, take for instance that Istanbul, Turkey UFO hovering over the water film that was deemed genuine by scientists over there reported as legitimate on their news (I don't think it was unidentified in that case).

That's all I have to offer, and this warning, once more: