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Science Forum Index » Astro - Amateur Forum » Australia state bans laser pointers after attacks
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| Chris L Peterson |
 Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:33 am |
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On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:38:43 GMT, R
<user@eeepc-r.domain_not_set.invalid> wrote:
Quote: Actually I was wondering, what purpose are the green lasers used for
in astronomy? The news broadcasts made special mention of their
legitimate application on astronomy. I can imagine that adaptive
telescopes could use them as a way of measuring light scattering but
am stumped as to what you'd use them for on smaller setups.
The primary use is as a pointer in a group setting. The lasers are a
wonderful tool for pointing out constellations, stars, or other objects.
Certainly, nothing else works nearly as well. They also work well for
demonstrating a star-hop pattern.
Some people attach them to their telescopes as a pointing aid. Rather
than having to site along the tube with a unit power finder, you can
simple look at the sky as you move the scope, and see where it's
pointing. People with back problems find this particularly useful.
They aren't actually used for any kind of adaptive optics. After you use
one for a while, however, you do start noticing that you learn something
about the dust and moisture content of the air by looking at the
qualitative nature of the scatter.
_________________________________________________
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com |
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| canopus56 |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:30 pm |
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On Apr 21, 8:52 pm, "t...@thadlabs.com" <t...@thadlabs.com> wrote:
Quote: Some of them are half a Watt and advertised in ASTRONOMY and
Sky & Telescope. They'll pop balloons at 100 feet, light a
cigarette, and generally just burn things (eyes, wood, etc.)
Visit <http://www.wickedlasers.com/> (one of the astro
advertisers) and watch the videos of people burning things
with them.
The wickedlaser site is an unfortunate development. Note the home
base of the site is in China. This isn't something that they could do
from the United States. Most of the lasers advertised on the site are
illegal for import into the United States without a special license -
a point omitted from the advertising - although there is a "regulatory
information" email contact listed. The non-Class IIIA lasers listed
there have no legitimate consumer use - a point reenforced by the
adolescent videos of non-Class IIIA lasers abuse illustrated in
wickedlaser's "user forum" pages. Direct public sales of non-Class
IIIA lasers are quite rightly banned from import into the United
States without a special license. This is another example of
deregulated globalization at its worst - a business chasing any easy
profit by selling dangerous non-Class IIIA products directly to the
uneducated public without regard for the consequences. After this
greedy company blinds a few people by their direct public sales of non
Class IIIA lasers, in IMHO jail will be too good for them. In
comparison, Class IIIA lasers, either red or green, are safe useful
consumer products. But what else would you expect from a country that
has such poor regulatory controls that it allowed the (a) export of
lead contaminated childrens' toys (Nov. 2007) and (b) the export of
cough syrup contaminated with an antifreeze compound (May 2007)? -
Canopus56
P.S. -
My 2005 website on the GLP issue with background info:
http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/observed/Glptst/index.html |
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| David Weinshenker |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:53 pm |
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canopus56 wrote:
Quote:
On Apr 21, 8:52 pm, "t...@thadlabs.com" <t...@thadlabs.com> wrote:
Some of them are half a Watt and advertised in ASTRONOMY and
Sky & Telescope. They'll pop balloons at 100 feet, light a
cigarette, and generally just burn things (eyes, wood, etc.)
Visit <http://www.wickedlasers.com/> (one of the astro
advertisers) and watch the videos of people burning things
with them.
The wickedlaser site is an unfortunate development. Note the home
base of the site is in China. This isn't something that they could do
from the United States. Most of the lasers advertised on the site are
illegal for import into the United States without a special license -
a point omitted from the advertising - although there is a "regulatory
information" email contact listed. The non-Class IIIA lasers listed
there have no legitimate consumer use - a point reenforced by the
adolescent videos of non-Class IIIA lasers abuse illustrated in
wickedlaser's "user forum" pages.
As I said in an earlier message, it seems a bit disingenuous
to refer to some of those products as "pointers" rather than
"portable industrial lasers": it's pretty impressive what
sort of output seems to be feasible with solid state laser
sources these days, though...!
-dave w |
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| canopus56 |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:41 pm |
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On Apr 29, 5:53 pm, David Weinshenker <daz...@earthlink.net> wrote:
Quote: As I said in an earlier message, it seems a bit disingenuous
to refer to some of those products as "pointers" rather than
"portable industrial lasers": . . . -dave w
Not IMHO. An industrial laser is a laser that has sufficient power to
modify materials, e.g. - cut, score, or shape metals. A 5mW Class
IIIA laser pointer has no such capability Off-axis, as shown in
photos at the above website, it is less of glare hazard than an
ordinary high-beam headlight passing you from the opposite direction
on a two-lane highway. But again, it is regretable that one country,
China, that has gone rogue captialist, is allowing the irresponsible,
indiscriminate, unregulated export of hazardous higher powered non-
Class IIIA lasers. As I understand it, the Chinese Ministry of
Commerce (MOFCOM) has the power under China's Foriegn Trade Law to
regulate the export of products that pose safety risks.
http://ng2.mofcom.gov.cn/chinalaw/chinalaw1.html That's the problem
here. - C |
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| David Weinshenker |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:33 am |
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canopus56 wrote:
Quote: On Apr 29, 5:53 pm, David Weinshenker <daz...@earthlink.net> wrote:
As I said in an earlier message, it seems a bit disingenuous
to refer to some of those products as "pointers" rather than
"portable industrial lasers": . . . -dave w
Not IMHO. An industrial laser is a laser that has sufficient power to
modify materials, e.g. - cut, score, or shape metals. A 5mW Class
IIIA laser pointer has no such capability
It was the higher-powered ones that I was referring to with my comment
above -5mW ("Class 3a") is reasonably a "pointer"; it's the 50-500 mw
ones ("look, I can light a cigarette and burn a hole in paper!") that
I'd put in the "industrial" class, and would think that a battery-powered
handheld "pointer"-style unit may not be the sanest format to market these
higher-output devices in.
(I doubt I'd buy one at those prices, but it would be an interesting gadget
to have on hand... possibly too much power to be practical for sky-pointing
though - 5mW is probably plenty for that!)
-dave w |
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| canopus56 |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:28 pm |
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On Apr 30, 7:33 am, David Weinshenker <daz...@earthlink.net> wrote:
Quote: snip> it's the 50-500 mw
ones ("look, I can light a cigarette and burn a hole in paper!") that
I'd put in the "industrial" class, and would think that a battery-powered
handheld "pointer"-style unit may not be the sanest format to market these
higher-output devices in. <snip> -dave w
Thanks, Dave. Definitely. Also, I understand some of the pointers
advertised as 10mW to 100mW skirt in as Class IIIAs eligible. I
understand the FDA's 5mW standard has a time component. Some laser
units are plused so their average energy output is within the 5mW
limit over time - meaning a second or two.
- Canopus56 |
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