Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!agate!eos!jbm From: jbm@eos.UUCP (Jeffrey Mulligan) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Seeing UV Message-ID: <685@eos.UUCP> Date: 9 May 88 23:02:08 GMT References: <5044@cup.portal.com> Distribution: na Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, California Lines: 16 + But what makes me curious is that every "black light" I've ever seen + has a peculiar quality to it that I never see in any other kind of + illumination. Hard to describe but it looks very specular, somewhat + like laser illumination of normal surfaces, and it always looks a little + fuzzy, possibly as if it were out of focus. When I ask other people if + they perceive anything like this, they look at me funny. Ultraviolet radiation causes the lens of the eye to flouresce. This would produce a diffuse illumination of the entire retinal image, but the effect would probably be more of a soft-focus effect, (sharp edges with a fuzzy overlay) rather than out and out blurring. -- Jeff Mulligan (jbm@ames-aurora.arpa) NASA/Ames Research Ctr., Mail Stop 239-3, Moffet Field CA, 94035 (415) 694-5150