Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!doug-merritt
From: doug-merritt@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Seeing IR
Message-ID: <5044@cup.portal.com>
Date: 3 May 88 00:05:53 GMT
References: <2871@jumbo.dec.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 22
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.4407


And how about seeing UV? I know that the retina has some sensitivty
to UV, but that it is usually filtered out by the cornea. And that
people who have their corneas removed can see UV. Also I know that
the retina's sensitivity drops off gradually toward the IR and UV,
rather than sharply.

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.

It strikes me that if I were perceiving UV, then the fuzziness would
make sense, given the chromatic abberation of the lens of the eye
(i.e. it's not going to focus UV as well as other wavelengths).
Is it possible that not all of the UV is being filtered out by my
cornea? Can some people with corneas see UV???

      Doug Merritt        ucbvax!sun.com!cup.portal.com!doug-merritt
                      or  ucbvax!eris!doug (doug@eris.berkeley.edu)
                      or  ucbvax!unisoft!certes!doug