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Laser Light
How far will a laser light reach if shined into the sky?
Will a laser light (from a Laser Pointer) continue into the sky forever, or will it end somewhere? Could it also be seen from the space station, or the space shuttle?
Depends on the strength of the laser, atmospheric conditions, and how well the laser is constructed.
Under idealized conditions, a laser would continue forever.
In the real world, lasers, especially the hand-held ‘pointer style’ lasers, are not perfectly collimated, have to penetrate through miles of turbulent atmosphere, and once out into space have to contend with dust and gas that tends to interfere with the light.
A sufficiently strong laser can be bounced off of the Moon, or at least bounced off of retro-reflectors placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts, and in fact that is done to this day to measure the rate at which the Moon is receding from the Earth ( 3.8 cm/yr ).
Even a hand-held laser pointer could theoretically be seen from the Moon, provided there were no other light sources shining on the Earth at that moment. So *in theory* a strong laser-pointer would be visible from the space station or space shuttle.
Before you go around shining that 325 mW laser up into the sky, I’d check the regulations. As it turns out here in the U.S.A. there are some FAA regulations regarding the use of these. For example, anything over 5 mW is illegal within 20 miles of a commercial airport.
When I use a strong laser pointer, I always have a spotter looking for planes.
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Astrostar Astro Star Laser Projector Cosmos Light Lamp $2.00 |
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Astrostar Astro Star Laser Projector Cosmos Light Lamp $0.99 |
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Astrostar Astro Star Laser Projector Cosmos Light Lamp $6.55 |
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Astrostar Astro Star Laser Projector Cosmos Light Lamp $1.25 |
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