Orion wrote:
What with all the controversy of pilots reporting being painted by
green
lasers, for far longer than a split second.
I am wondering if this is within the capabilities of amateur
astronomer
equipment? e.g.
could a LX-90 with a green laser mounted on it, be capable of doing
such a
feat?
I've never owned a alt/az goto, and I don't know if such hardware
could be
fast and smooth and accurate enough to pull this off, i.e. track the
cockpit
say for 5 or 10 seconds?
It seems unlikely to me..If I had to bet, I'd point my finger at some
black-ops BS, after all, it's common practice for military pilots to
practice EW and target civilian"bogies", and maybe they are yet again
crossing the line?
Thoughts?
Orion.

yes it is within reason if the plane is traveling less than 1 degree
per second (in a comercial airliner, not likely). it is considerably
easier to target spy satelites. an lx200 can easly target just about
any satelite beyond the orbit of the ISS. A laser pointer and a SBIG AO
system can be used to blind it temporairily. the problem is the
satelite can register is your position to within 10 meters, well within
the targeting capability of a JDAM. in fact, this would be the only
thing it would register. it would be nearly imposible to blind a pilot
or a satelite without a much more powerfull lazer (100Watt'ish).the
problem at this wattage is the mirror absorbs 10% of he energy and will
be quickly destroyed. if you did manage to target a cockpit you could
only blind one pilot before the other noticed. in other words, yes it
is possible but you will be found and prosecuted (read: executed) if
you ever try it.
you should not worry about terrorists using astronomical equipment to
blind pilots/satelites. it is simply impractical. it is nearly
impossible to find (let alone aquire) the equipment to do so.

You should be as worried about this as you are of a comet landing on
your head.

mike