Night Vision facts
While investigating facts about Night Vision Goggles and Night Vision Scope, I found out little known, but curios details like:
There is a small Pacific Island where about 10% of the population are completely colorblind (only see shades of black/white/grey). The condition limits vision in full sunlight, but may lead to sharper vision at night, like for night fishing.
how night vision works?
Night vision goggles are green because because the human eye can differentiate more shades of green than any other color.
What night vision to buy?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what night vision goggles to buy. Here are 50 of the best facts about Night Vision Binoculars and Night Vision Glasses I managed to collect.
why is vision blurry at night?
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Night vision goggles are green because the human eye can differentiate more shades of green than any other color.
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When worn on deployment, US Flag patches on uniforms are infrared so soldiers can be identified as friendly by others looking through night vision goggles
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In 1998, Sony inadvertently released a camcorder that could see through clothes. When aimed at people wearing dark clothing, the night-vision feature created an x-ray effect, meaning what ever was beneath became visible. Sony had to recall over 700,000 units after they discovered the issue.
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Prong horned antelope have 10X vision, which means on a clear night they can see the rings of Saturn.
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Night vision goggles are green because the human eye can differentiate more shades of green than any other color.
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The myth that carrots improve night vision was started on purpose in WII as an explanation for why german planes kept getting shot down at night. In reality, radar had just been invented.
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Scientists in California created eye drops that enable night vision up to 50 meters using a molecule found in deep sea fish
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The US president's Cadillac One (aka The Beast) is equipped with 8 inch thick bulletproof doors, an oxygen system, a night-vision camera, tear-gas bombs, a shotgun, and pints of the president’s blood type.
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Polar bears are invisible to night-vision goggles.
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The U.S. Army has a list of approved laundry detergents. These detergents do not contain optical whiting compounds, which would cause laundered uniforms to glow in UV light, and stick out in night-vision imaging.
Night Vision data charts
For your convenience take a look at Night Vision figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
Why night vision goggles are green?
You can easily fact check why night vision is bad by examining the linked well-known sources.
Night vision goggles are green because we see in more shades of green than any other colour.
Eating carrots will improve your vision" is actually based in wartime propaganda designed to explain why pilots were able to fly so well at night without revealing the new invention of radar technology to the enemy. - source
There is an inn on the Canadian American border that encourages guests to spot illegal trespassers by supplying them with night vision goggles - source
The idea that carrots promote better vision was a misinformation campaign by the British during WWII. They were the first to use onboard radar technology to shoot down enemy plains in complete darkness. They spread the idea that carrots gave their soldiers "night vision" to hide the tech.
The mechanism behind night vision isn't the dilation of our pupils, it's actually a pigment known as Rhodopsin. It gets destroyed by light and takes the eye 45 minutes to replenish. - source
When night vision goggles were invented?
Night vision goggles emit a green colored viewfinder because the human eyes are more sensitive to green light as we can see more shades of green than most other colors. The green color is also less strenuous to the eyes which is why older computers had green displays.
How night vision goggles work?
Horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal, have excellent day and night vision, but they have two-color, or dichromatic vision; their color vision is somewhat like red-green color blindness in humans, where certain colors, especially red and related colors, appear as a shade of green.
The population of Pingelap Atoll is afflicted with 'genuine colour-blindness': 1 in 10 see only black and white. After a tsunami in 1780 left only 20 islanders alive, the king passed the genetic flaw to his many descendants. Conversely, the condition grants sufferers fantastic night-vision.
Jamaican fishermen are able to navigate their boats through dangerous coral reefs in the darkness of a moonless night because of the improved night vision gained by ingesting cannabis.
The images on night vision goggles are green because you can see more shades and detail in green than in any other colour.
The United States Presidential state car, nicknamed "The Beast," is a custom built Cadillac with 5-inch thick bulletproof glass. It carries oxygen tanks, night vision optics, pump action shotguns, a tear gas cannon, rocket-propelled grenades, and two pints of the President's blood type.