Light enhancing glasses?

Question

I heard about a pair of glasses that can make light "brighter".

Example: You're in a room and light a candle. The glasses make the room seem brighter, like it's being lite by multiple candles.

Is this real? Is so, where can I find them?

Answer 1

I've never seen or heard of such a thing, but two possibilities come to mind. First, equipment which uses light outside the human visible spectrum. Night vision goggles do this by detecting infrared and displaying it within the visible spectrum.

Second is 'light gathering.' The main difference between a toy telescope and Mount Palomar is not magnification, but light gathering capacity. While the human eye can detect single, isolated photons, it can detect only those which land on the very small area of its lens. The equivalent on the Hale telescope at Palomar has a diameter of 200 inches. You could design glasses that way, but it's a benefit not many people would care about. They would rather be able to read better or see the highway better.