mercurydancer,
While I'm still not too clear about the use you amateur astronomers make of l@aser pointers (could you explain a bit more?).....
I would assume...
- you point it towards a sky object, be it a planet, a star or a galaxy, and it then would remain steady, or at the most waver a bit while you're searching, then follow the 24 hour movement of astronomical objects.
- you would not point it towards an aircraft or suchlike, and try to follow it.
In that case...
- the beam, being coherent and very narrow, would be unlikely to "hit" an aircraft,
- even in the unlikely case of an aircraft exactly crossing your steady beam, the "flash" would be so short as not to matter.
It would seem from what I've read that you amateur astronomers get some use out of l@ser pointers to the sky.
All the more regrettable that the current crowd of criminal users will probably soon result your 'amateur' use being classed as criminal as well.
CJ