Dodgecaliber Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I know this one is technically in the wrong place, but I thought I'd open it up to the masses. Was in an IMAX today and we were chatting about how bright the projectors are. I was surprised by the answer and I just thought I'd open it up to those of us that might not actually know much about these things. Do you think it's possible for one of these bulbs to be seen from the moon or is it just a myth? NO GOOGLING! HONEST ANSWERS ONLY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Lee Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Will google later as you have piqued my interest on this. You don't say if the lamp is on the moon itself or not :blink: I'm guessing that it is false so by law the answer must be that it is true. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Theoretically, perhaps. If you could take one out somewhere dark enough to give you contrast against the background and loose the light pollution from around it then maybe. But in all honesty, I doubt that the human eye could resolve the angle. And further, Dodge is in Glasgow. You'd need to be able to SEE the moon for it to work! There is an on-going Apollo mission experiment to measure the distance to the moon and how fast it is receding from us. They use a big laser through an optical telescope to illuminate a reflector left behind by Apollo15 (I think) and they only get afew photons back. Lots of atmosphere in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgecaliber Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 Obviously this is asuming the atmosphere is clear and the moon is a fixed distance. The bulb could be on either planet, this is just 'in-theory' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 which moon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgecaliber Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 The big one in the sky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Well they're only gonna be upto 7kW, so I vote 'No'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 which moon? The big one in the sky? I laughed TMH :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I will ask a guywho has changed the one in Bradford next time I see him. He does sound for..... well pretty much everything around here! His son still works there, so either should be a good source of info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutnetworker Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 considering you can only just make out the shape of the continent of earth from the moon (http://www.cosmos4kids.com/extras/dtop_earth/moonearth_580.jpg) and you cant make out urban light sources I find it had to believe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 I used to point aerials at the moon, and try to bounce RF off it back to the other side of the earth - it seemed fun at the time, but was rather pointless I suppose. Bearing in mind a projector with a lens is a diverging beam, I doubt you could see it a couple of miles away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferHound Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Could you see the bulb on the moon - NoCould you see the bulb lit up on the moon - MaybeCould you see the bulb in the projector pointed at the earth - Yesafter all you can see the lights on earth from spacehttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081005.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 after all you can see the lights on earth from spaceThose are whole cities you can see there, and that pic is from low earth orbit, not 250000 miles away. I'm sticking with "No". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutnetworker Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 I'm with Andrew C... there is NOTHING man-made on earth visable from the moon, IIRC from an open uni programme I saw once, the earth appears about the size of a breakfast bowl held at arms lenght when view from the moon (so some astronaut said) and the himalayas covered an area about the size of a stamp on it, so again.... seem unlikely!!! A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. I used to point aerials at the moon, and try to bounce RF off it back to the other side of the earth - it seemed fun at the time, but was rather pointless I suppose. Bearing in mind a projector with a lens is a diverging beam, I doubt you could see it a couple of miles away! reminds me of a time I was doing a science tech event and some monkeys with a VERY power laser (not the toys we use in are industry) where trying to write the logo on the moon, they where adament they managed it... of course all they managed was to scribble in the lower atomsphere but they where insistance!!.. oh and they definately didn't have an ok from the CAA, I know because they where a few stands down and they went ape!!! happy days!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgecaliber Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 Just to clarify, it's the bulb were talking about - On it's own, pointed at earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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