Re: Paint the Moon

[Sandin <sandint@NCAT.EDU>]

The moon is about 400 million meters away. The reflector array has a
size of the order of 1 meter. Even if the beam could be kept from
spreading, the person holding the pointer would have to keep it aimed to
within about 1/(400 million) radian or about 1/(10 million) degree. I'm a
bit shakier than that.                          Tom Sandin

On Thu, 25 Oct 2001, David Bowman wrote:

> It seems to me that a major problem with the idea (other than the
> other major problems of beam spreading and low total luminosity) is
> that hand held laser pointers do not come equipped with a sighting
> scope so they cannot be properly aimed at a target of small subtended
> angle without relying on the person holding it looking at the
> reflected beam spot to provide the necessary visual feedback so an
> accurate pointing can be converged on.
>
> David Bowman