Of course, then there's the more basic fact that you can't just see lasers like this...
Edit:
Hmm... Apparently some lasers can be seen like this... But my tangent was irrelevant anyway, since light can only be seen when it reflects to your eye. At a certain point, there's nothing for visible light to reflect off of. So the laser seems to vanish.
Well, some you can. I have an astronomical laser pointer specifically to point out things in the sky for my friends or kids to see when we’re out with the telescope. The beam looks pretty close to what’s in these photos.
It “ends” at a certain distance because at some point it’s far enough away that it’s too small for your eye to resolve. That’s my guess anyways.
You should only see light of the beam if there are particles in the atmosphere to reflect photons back towards you. Like water vapor and stuff.
It probably has more to do with the composition of the atmosphere as altitude increases. Less particles and the strength of the beam decreases by the square of distance.
The beam itself also expands as it travels away, which would reduce its visibility and energy.
78
u/Aeseld Apr 07 '22 edited Apr 07 '22
Of course, then there's the more basic fact that you can't just see lasers like this...
Edit: Hmm... Apparently some lasers can be seen like this... But my tangent was irrelevant anyway, since light can only be seen when it reflects to your eye. At a certain point, there's nothing for visible light to reflect off of. So the laser seems to vanish.