Fun with night-vision: 5 unconventional uses

January 5, 2012 at 11:24 pm

A few weeks ago, I was looking for the Andromeda Galaxy in a loaned night vision monocular and a pair of “Navy SEAL-style” night vision goggles from my backyard on the outskirts of the small town of Port Hope, ON.

While out there, I figured I’d take our 3-year-old miniature schnauzer, Winston, out for his final business transaction of the night. At the same time, our 3-month old mini, Frankie Jenkins (At left, also known as “the trainee”) decided to hop out into the yard for a tinkle.

Not two seconds after I realized how easy it was to lose this completely-black-haired six-pounder in the landscaping did I put my night vision back on and realize I could see little Frankie, safe, sound, and still on our side of the fence (and not the coyote side.)

With that in mind, here are five fun (and sometimes handy) uses for night vision you may not have thought of:

5. keep tabs on small (especially dark-coloured) pets at night

4. Go stargazing
Generation 2 night vision and up (and even some higher-quality generation 1 units) allow one or more galaxies and several star clusters to stand out, even in light-polluted skies. More than even image stabilized binoculars, night vision stargazing is perhaps the true guilty pleasure of amateur astronomy.

3. Start a modern-dance crew

2. Go birding or wildlife viewing after dark or before sunrise

1. As survival/emergency-preparedness gear
This may not be the first thing you put in your 24-hour kit, but when you think about it, night vision can allow you to find your way when lost in the dark or keep an eye on your house and neighbourhood during a lengthy power outage or disaster.

posted by Peter McMahon

Space writer/columnist/author Peter McMahon’s “Wilderness Astronomer” column can be seen in each issue of Sky News: Canada’s Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing. His new science experiment book Space Tourism, is available from Kids Can Press.

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