[gaseous (Patrick)]

Are there any optometrists/ophthalmologists in the visual forum? I’m keen to know if taking pupil dilation drops prior to an observing session would make my pupils dilate any more than might naturally be expected after full dark-adaption, to see if it makes a difference detecting faint fuzzies. Maybe just one eye, to test the difference.
Having said that, the list of potential side effects is pretty extensive, and not the kinds of things you’d enjoy experiencing at night at a dark site miles from help. One particular brand’s potential side effects include experiencing “false beliefs that cannot be changed by facts”, which is a pretty remarkable effect from putting a drop of liquid in your eyes. I imagine you’d win few friends if you started loudly expounding the intellectual virtues of flat-earthers in the middle of a star party. I’m reminded of a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: “and that, my liege, is how we know the earth to be banana-shaped”…