Green laser pointers?

[DougAdams]

Has anybody used, or seen in use, a green laser pointer? I've been thinking about these for a while to help my wife by pointing out how to get to certain celestial objects.

How effective are they?

I was wondering if there are any legal implications also - they don't seem to be readily available in Australia (Bintel, Andrews, Melbourne), and they're not something you'd want kids to handle.

[[1ponders]]

Doug they are available in Australia and they are great.

We use them at the Mapleton Observatory on open nights for fust the purpose you were looking for. I'll have a chat to the person who bought them for the Observatory and let you know where to get them from.

I have heard though that you need to be careful with them as they may cause problems for people taking astrophotographs in the area if the beam crosses through their field of view. Has anyone else heard of this problem.:confuse2:

Paul

[beren]

Doug ive got one coming from the south australian mail order company "telescopes and astronomy" , its a 5mw and currently on special for 125 , ive seen siruis optics and Astronomy online selling 5mw ones for 169 , dont know wether its the same brand or not ?You can get ones with more output but the prices start to rise , Matthew from the TaA said the 5mw would be suitable for most users ......although in full moon light and strong LP the effectiveness of the beam may be diminised.

About a month ago i first saw GLPs being used at a club dark viewing night and i was pretty impressed , they are certainly handy in explaining patterns and objects to people . Caution would have to be applied but i didnt sense any effect to my night vision.

Im hoping to attach one to my sct and use the goto to help direct my other scope . Once here ill post a message about how it goes.

[mch62]

Defiantly don't use one if people are taking astro photos or you will likely wind up with heavy object whizzing past your head.:D
You would have to watch visual observers as well if in a large group, can be a little off putting.
But yes they are good for group presentations or star party nights.

[loopy]

Errr.. stupid question but what do you use them for? You point them at stars?

Cheers,


Brad

[mch62]

Thats right , unlike a red laser a green one is closer to the area of the spectrum where ours eyes are more sensitive for the power output of the laser. So you can see the beam .
You can see them as a line that disapears into the sky.
So essentialy there a pointer you follow with your eyes up to end where you are aiming.
They can also be mounted on your scope to use as a finder.
Same idea.

[Mick]

A friend of mine has one and uses it at public nights. He has fitted a little mod, it's a piece of rubber tube that fits snugly over the laser end, an inch or two long. Just like a dew shield. This makes it nearly impossible to accidentally point it at someone’s eye, unless you look directly down the rubber tube.

[iceman]

I'm really keen to get one, just for educational purposes when i'm showing people the night sky. Eventually I might use it as a finder as well.

The 2 best places to get them from are:

1. Telescopes and Astronomy in SA, as Aragorn said. Probably about $135-$140 once you add postage on.

2. Abeland1 - that's the ebay user name on US ebay, they ship international and you could probably get it for around $120 shipped depending on the exchange rate.

I think it's going to be my next purchase, but there's so many things I want.. OIII filter, Telrad, widefield eyepiece, etc. et.c

[seeker372011]

Just a word of caution...green lasers not only upset astrophotographers around you but also pose a real permanent risk to the eyesight of anyone who is accidentally exposed to the powerful beam

I have seen people use them instead of finders or telrads on scopes but it causes havoc for any astrophotographers around

[Vermin]

Iceman, If you get one from Howie Glatter http://www.skypointer.net/brktfr.html you can get a mounting bracket and switch so you can use it instead of a Telerad, may not save you much but it's one less item on your list!

Make sure you get one with a guaranteed 5mW output, some are much less (and less reliable), I think there is a review mentioning this on CN.

There's a recent thread in s.a.a. with a few links too.

If you really want to piss the astro-imagers off get one of these 40mW green lasers:

http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/lasers.html#LS1

:)

V.

[DougAdams]

Thanks for the feedback, chaps. I called the "telescopes and astromony" number and they had the Kendricks pointers in stock at $125. Based on some quick research, that seems a great price.

I won't be using them near any astrophotographers :)

I had an interesting chat with Lee Andrews - he won't stock them as there appears to be some doubt about them in NSW. It seems idiots take them to the cricket and use them to distract the players. Crazy!

[beren]

Waiting ,waiting ..... hopefully it arrives before Christmas eve , gotta use it for the family tour of the heavens and guide santa in !

[DougAdams]

Aragorn, mine turned from from "telescopes and astronomy" this morning. Took about 7 days from the phone call to delivery. Perhaps you should follow it up with them?

[iceman]

It took about 7 days for me to get the solar filter a week or 2 ago as well, i reckon the xmas post is delaying things a bit.

[beren]

Thanks Doug/Ice my order/payment went through on the 8th dec, thats 10 working days , thats all right just hope it arrives before xmas and before the moon drowns out the darkness.....

[iceman]

Sounds great, I really want one.. Are you going to buy (or make) a bracket to mount it and use it as a finder?

[silvinator]

As a concerned mother hen for all you fellas here, I just have to point out that astrophotographers and cricketers are not the only people to suffer from GLP misuse. Some idiots have actually pointed these laser beams at aircraft, damaging their vision. I know that you are not going to go out there deliberately pointing your lasers at pilots but I still have to mention it. I found this report that highlights this and that even accidental pointing is dangerous, so be careful when you guys use these things as finders.
http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/aam-400A/Abstracts/2001/FULL%20TEXT/0107.pdf
(It's a PDF so you might want to save the target link first)
Page 2 has some interesting case reports and page 7 shows what a laser beam looks like from the cockpit of an aircraft.