Be careful - that laser mouse could make you go blind...

I recently got a new laser mouse.

The laser itself is only faintly visible to the human eye - presumably because most of the light it emits falls in the infrared portion of the spectrum.

I couldn't tell if the mouse was on, so somewhat dumbly I looked right into the optic.

I felt like I'd just looked into a really bright light - even though I couldn't see anything. It would seem reasonable that bright infrared could have an irritating effect on your eyes - even if you can't see it.

So - how bright is that infrared laser?

The CCD in your digital camera is actually capable of "seeing" infrared. Some night vision systems use this to their advantage - they are really just illuminating their target with an infrared floodlight.

       
The invisible laser is quite visible when photographed using a digital camera.

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