How many mW green laser do I need for star gazing?

I went to a star party a couple weeks ago and used a green laser that was perfect. It cast a thick, visible beam and put a disticnt green dot on whatever star you pointed it at. I forgot to look at what the power was, though. I want to buy one, but I don’t want to buy more than I need because as the power goes up a little bit, the price goes WAY up. Wicked lasers has a 5mW for $60 that they claim is better than other 5mWs, but I have nothing to compare it to.

My 5mW Green laser ($20 on ebay) throws a visible beam in a dark sky.

Get a 5mW for less than $20 or more at

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=5mW+Green+laser&x=0&y=0

plus S&H,

Just what you seen on the shelves, pal.

Say what? It maybe obscured the star, but putting a dot on it like it might on a wall?

Oh, sure.
It just takes 8 or more years to see it…

Seemed like it. I dunno. It did the job it intented to do; i.e. if someone asked where Capella was, you could point the laser at it and there would be absolutely no ambiguity about where Capella was. That’s what I meant. It didn’t scatter as if it were hitting something like it does when you hit a wall at close range.

My 125mW green laser is pretty bright. Never pointed it at a star though.

Efstonscience has a green laser pointer for $89.99 Canadian. It’s 5 mW.

Sounds like an advertising flyer I saw the other day - ‘up to 25% off everything’

Which tells you absolutely nothing about the price, eh?

Well, it’s not $20