Night vision… how does it work? Watch this and learn more than you ever wanted to know.

We visited the US Navy to test the best night vision goggles in the world. Huge thanks to Dr. Ben Conley and the entire team at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.

Credits:

Click to Reveal

▀▀▀
Video References:

Tyson, J. (2001). How Night Vision Works. How Stuff Works. – ve42.co
Montoro, H. P. Image Intensification: The Technology of Night Vision. Photonics. – ve42.co
Brain Stuff - HowStuffWorks via YouTube – ve42.co
Photonis via YouTube – ve42.co
Operator Drewski via YouTube – ve42.co
Night-vision device via Wikipedia – ve42.co
Image intensifier via Wikipedia – ve42.co
Lodriguss, J. How Digital Cameras Work. AstroPix. –ve42.co
Kinka-Byo. (2019). What is the physical cause of increasing noise at high ISO? StackExchange. – ve42.co
Macias, A. (2015). The secret NVGs SEAL Team Six wore on the Bin Laden raid. Business Insider. – ve42.co
Van Dommelen, L. Thermionic Emis­sion. Quan­tum Me­chan­ics for En­gi­neers. – ve42.co
Nave, R. (2016). Blackbody Radiation. HyperPhysics. – ve42.co
Night Vision Terminology - Generations. ModArmory. – ve42.co
NASA (2018). X-ray Detectors - Electrical Current Detections. – ve42.co

Images & Video:
Osama Bin Laden report, via CNN on YouTube - ve42.co
Sicario Night Raid Scene, via Movieclips on YouTube - ve42.co
Splinter Cell footage, via Ubisoft on YouTube - ve42.co
Step Brothers Night Vision Scene, via masusockvevo on YouTube - ve42.co
Ukraine report, via CNN on YouTube - ve42.co
FLIR K2 Thermal Imaging Camera footage, via Teledyne FLIR on YouTube - ve42.co
Chandra X-ray Observatory imagery, via NASA - ve42.co

▀▀▀
Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bernard McGee, Bill Linder, Burt Humburg, Chris Harper, Dave Kircher, Diffbot, Evgeny Skvortsov, Gnare, John H. Austin, Jr., john kiehl, Josh Hibschman, Juan Benet, KeyWestr, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Mario Bottion, Max Maladino, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, Stephen Wilcox, Tj Steyn, TTST, Ubiquity Ventures

▀▀▀

Head to brilliant.org to start your free 30-day trial, and the first 200 people get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

If you’re looking for a molecular modeling kit, head to ve42.co to try Snatoms – a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically

Directed by Emily Zhang
Written by Emily Zhang and Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Animated by Mike Radjabov, Fabio Albertelli, and Ivy Tello
Filmed by Trenton Oliver, Emily Zhang, Derek Muller, and Raquel Nuno
Produced by Emily Zhang and Derek Muller

Thumbnail by Ren Hurley
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Pond5
Music from Epidemic Sound