There was a time when only the military used night vision goggles. Soldiers used these gadgets to see in the dark, which was obviously what these goggles were made for, but specifically, they used the gadgets to watch out for enemies or simply to know what they were likely to encounter in the field when the sun went down. Today, these goggles are being sold commercially and even used personally by people who realize the need to beef up their security at home or even in office or business premises. If you are a personal user of night vision goggles, there is good reason for you to be, especially if your area is surrounded by shrubs or trees or anything behind which burglars could hide.
If you’re wondering why you couldn’t see as clearly at night as you would during daytime, it’s all because of how your eyes were made. Rods and cones are the so-called receptors of our eyes. Cones are responsible for the vision we experience during daytime. These cones allow us to distinguish colors and to see clearly. At night, however, the rods take over. However, these receptors do not allow us to see the colors we are able to appreciate during the day. Instead, at night, we only see black or white.
To be exact, night vision goggles and other night vision gadgets work two ways. One is through image enhancement. This means the gadget will pull together small amounts of light, even extending to the bottom part of the infrared light spectrum which is always there but may not be seek by the naked eye. What the gadget does is amplify or increase the intensity of these lights so that the user is able to see the image clearly in the dark. The other way that night vision equipment works is through thermal imaging. This targets the upper side of the infrared light spectrum which is usually created from the heat emitted by objects and not from light reflections. Warm bodies usually create more of this type of light than those considered to be cool bodies, such as trees or other structures.
It is important to have one of these night vision gadgets because they will help us see our surroundings at a time when we are naturally unable to do so. This means we can be more on-guard and we can further ensure the safety of our families and ourselves.