My green laser arrived last week. Upon arrival I counted the seconds until it was dark out. Unfortunately, there was a cloud cover making the night sky glow with neon amber from reflected city lights. Still, I was not to be dissuaded this easily. I extracted the laser pointer from it miniature photon torpedo case, pointed it to the hidden stars, and pressed the ‘on’ button.
Instantly a thin green beam sliced the night air an reached its way to the clouds. The beam was as thick as a pipe cleaner and as visible as a laminar column of smoke of an extinguished birthday candle 5 seconds after the end of Mildred J. Hill’s “Good Morning to All”. The beam slid ghostly through the air as I waved the laser. It was amazing that something so thin and long did not break when you waved it.
The reason for this purchase, or so I told my wife, was to point out stars in the night skies to my kids. The laser extends about 2-3 kilometers into the night sky, and when pointed at a star in th night sky, it seems to touch it. Everyone around you also sees the same star touched by the laser beam.
A couple of nights later, when the skies had cleared, I took the kids out for a little star gazing. We played with the laser the entire time, and my attempts at star gazing were dimmed by finding cool new things to do with a laser. We’ll have to try again some other night.
BTW, I recommend waving the laser back and fourth quickly at a tree with many branches and few leaves. Very cool.