Night vision

Two American soldiers pictured during the 2003 Iraq War seen through an image intensifier.

Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vision compared to many animals such as cats, dogs, foxes and rabbits, in part because the human eye lacks a tapetum lucidum,[1] tissue behind the retina that reflects light back through the retina thus increasing the light available to the photoreceptors.

  1. ^ Chijiiwa, Taeko; Ishibashi, Tatsuro; Inomata, Hajime (1990). "Histological study of choroidal melanocytes in animals with tapetum lucidum cellulosum (abstract)". Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. 228 (2): 161–168. doi:10.1007/BF00935727. PMID 2338254. S2CID 11974069.