Stargazing turned to lasers

[Kolet]

That sounds very interesting. Maybe down the road I'll attempt to purchase a laser that can fluoresce minerals.

 

[AstroLaser]

That sounds very interesting. Maybe down the road I'll attempt to purchase a laser that can fluoresce minerals.

The 405nm blue (or violet ?) laser you are getting might fluorcese a few minerials if I remember reading correctly what others have said.

The very high cost of a shortwave (254nm) laser (if they are available) might not be worth the power output available under current technology for lasers in wavelengths that low, (even shortwave LEDs are expensive for the low power level currently available for that wavelength).

With current technology, really effective shortwave light seems to be best available with the fluorcese tube type of shortwave UV light.

I'm a relative noob with lasers and also shortwave UV and rock/minerial hunting so there might be good power, lower cost UV lasers/LEDs that I am not yet aware of (I'm still learning but the above info is fairly accurate as far as what from I have read thus far on this and another related forum.

 

[Kolet]

Yeah, I'm getting a 445 nm blue laser. I'll have to read up on this subject. Seems interesting enough, for sure.

 

[AstroLaser]

Yeah, I'm getting a 445 nm blue laser. I'll have to read up on this subject. Seems interesting enough, for sure.

Ok, that might help clear up another noob question I had been needing to research - I had wondered if people were using blue and violet interchangably meaning the same laser, but now that you mentioned 445nm, I think I just may have learned that "blue" and "violet" are not interchangable terms if blue = 445nm and violet = 405nm.

If you did want to get an inexpensive 405nm (violet) laser, I had recently got this one - Blue Purple Violate Laser Pointer USTOP Signal&Fun SALE - eBay (item 270653714860 end time Nov-22-10 21:40:46 PST) - (I only paid $8.53 with free shipping) and I am very pleased with it.

 

[Kolet]

ooh, I may have to take a look at that.

 

[wbp]

IMO a UV LED flashlight is better for getting materials to fluoresce - the broader beam works better for this than a laser would. I have a couple of UV LED lights that I use for scorpion hunting - one is 365 nm and filtered and it works really well, but a cheap UV LED light works almost as well and is about 1/3 the price.

 

[Kolet]

I just purchased it. What have you done with yours so far?

and yeah, I have a few LED keychains.

 

[AstroLaser]

IMO a UV LED flashlight is better for getting materials to fluoresce - the broader beam works better for this than a laser would. I have a couple of UV LED lights that I use for scorpion hunting - one is 365 nm and filtered and it works really well, but a cheap UV LED light works almost as well and is about 1/3 the price.

From what I read so far, the mid-range UV LEDs will fluoresce some things, but there are some things (like many minerials) that need 254nm UV and LEDs get much more expensive at that wavelength from what I heard.

(having said that I still would like to eventually get a mid-range UV LED flashlight )

I just purchased it. What have you done with yours so far?

and yeah, I have a few LED keychains.

That's great, for that low price it is a very good deal !

I have not had mine long enough yet to try a lot of stuff with it, but I have seen that it will really charge up GITD (glow in the dark) material, and there are some objects around the house that really light up at night when you shine it on them, like fluorscent yellow tennis balls, fluorscent colored plastics, white paper, white cloth, ect.

 

[wbp]

The tennis balls *really* light up! I was scorpion hunting along a trail in a nearby park and found over a dozen. Lots of people walk their dogs on the trails, and they must have been dropping tennis balls as they go. They light up brightly in UV, all it takes is one small bit of the ball peeking out from under the leaves...

 

[AstroLaser]

The tennis balls *really* light up! I was scorpion hunting along a trail in a nearby park and found over a dozen. Lots of people walk their dogs on the trails, and they must have been dropping tennis balls as they go. They light up brightly in UV, all it takes is one small bit of the ball peeking out from under the leaves...

Neat, saves you from having to buy tennis balls if you play tennis and/or have a dog, just clean them off first

(+ Rep for your neat telescope in your avatar photo, I'd like to have two refractors like that connected side by side to use like super binoculars )

 

[wbp]

(+ Rep for your neat telescope in your avatar photo, I'd like to have two refractors like that connected side by side to use like super binoculars )

Thanks! There was someone who brought a pair of 6" refractors to RTMC one year set up as a binocular, don't remember if they were A/P's or not. These days a pair of refractors like the one in my avatar will set you back about $45K, if you can find them.

 

[AstroLaser]

Thanks! There was someone who brought a pair of 6" refractors to RTMC one year set up as a binocular, don't remember if they were A/P's or not. These days a pair of refractors like the one in my avatar will set you back about $45K, if you can find them.

Wow, now that is what I would call super-binoculars !

I plan to try to eventually save enough out of my hobby budget to get a good pair of 100x25 binoculars and put them on a chair mount for easy astro viewing, but other hobby stuff like lasers and also shortwave UV, ect. has been using up my hobby budget lately, one of the drawbacks of having several different hobbies, but it's still fun with what I do have to use

 

[elite ares]

Not quite binoculars but here is my side-by-side refractor set-up.

[/IMG]
TeleVue TV-85 and William Optic FLT-110 APO on a WO EZTouch alt-az mount.

 

[AstroLaser]

Not quite binoculars but here is my side-by-side refractor set-up.

[/IMG]
TeleVue TV-85 and William Optic FLT-110 APO on a WO EZTouch alt-az mount.

Neat scope set-up !

Do they always both point at the same exact object at the same time ?

Is that set up for allowing two people to view at the same time, or to give you two different magnifications of the same object without having to change eyepieces ?

(I'm a casual backyard observer, and not always familiar with the all the technical particulars of some set ups, but I keep learning more and more )

 

[elite ares]

Neat scope set-up !

Do they always both point at the same exact object at the same time ? YES

Is that set up for allowing two people to view at the same time,YES or to give you two different magnifications of the same object without having to change eyepieces ?YES

(I'm a casual backyard observer, and not always familiar with the all the technical particulars of some set ups, but I keep learning more and more )Sounds like you already have a good grasp.

They are aligned very closely and point to the same object so two people can view simultaneously. Depending on eyepieces used, they can be the same magnification but the focal lengths are different so with the same focal length eyepieces you get different magnification.

Telescope focal length/eyepiece focal length = magnification.

e.g. 770mm/13mm = 59.2x and 660mm/13mm = 50.8x (Same eyepiece f.l.)
770mm/13mm = 59.2x and 660mm/11.1mm = 59.2x (Same magnification)


I usually have the smaller scope set up for wide field and the larger one zoomed in. Just different perspectives.

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[AstroLaser]

They are aligned very closely and point to the same object so two people can view simultaneously. Depending on eyepieces used, they can be the same magnification but the focal lengths are different so with the same focal length eyepieces you get different magnification.

Telescope focal length/eyepiece focal length = magnification.

e.g. 770mm/13mm = 59.2x and 660mm/13mm = 50.8x (Same eyepiece f.l.)
770mm/13mm = 59.2x and 660mm/11.1mm = 59.2x (Same magnification)


I usually have the smaller scope set up for wide field and the larger one zoomed in. Just different perspectives.

Thank you for your kind words.

That's good to have both a wide field perspective along with a higher magnification of the same object, would look neat being able to quickly check between both views with objects like the Pleiades and also Orion with a higher mag view of the Orion nebula !

I was familiar with the focal length / mag formula from when I was a kid and first got an interest in astronomy (of course as a kid just getting into telescopes the first thing you focus on is how much magnification does a scope have )

(+ Rep for you for the astronomy info as well as the neat telescope photos - including the "light bucket" dob in your avatar photo ! )