View Single Post
  #1  
Old 30-04-2019, 07:30 AM
madbadgalaxyman's Avatar
madbadgalaxyman (Robert)
Registered User

madbadgalaxyman is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 936
CCDs for eyeballs - you can see one photon !?!

Hi there, all observers,


I think most of us would agree that a trained and experienced Deep Sky Observer's eye is Remarkably Sensitive at low light levels, at least before his/her retina ages too much.



(oops, I am engaging here in Binary gender stereotyping, for what if it is not his/her but instead "another" gender. A bit of gentle lampooning going on here. )




But it would appear, at least if these results are correct, that we can actually perceive a flash of light when just One Single Photon hits a rod cell in the retina.

It is well established that a Rod cell can definitely Respond to receiving a single photon, but the much more extraordinary claim here is that the observer can actually see (perceive) that photon;


https://aeon.co/essays/an-eye-on-exp...7402a-43924605


Hmmmm.....any result that relies on the human Senses plus Brain plus Consciousness perceiving or not-perceiving a stimulus that is received from the world outside of a human being, must , in my view, be regarded as significantly uncertain.



So what do you think?


(( we discussed some of these issues in the sticky about increasing the Observer's sensitivity and accuracy. It was interesting to discover how Very Many tricks and techniques are used by Experienced Observers to improve their detection threshold and then to Confirm or Deny the reality of a specific observation. ))
Reply With Quote