I don't think the AN/PVS-2 magnified that much.
The video refers to a, '4 power optic' magnification.
Which touches on Halt's recorded comments:
"OK we're looking at the thing, we're probably about 2-3 hundred yards away. It looks like an eye winking at you, it's still moving from side to side and when we put the Starscope on it, it's sort of a hollow center right, a dark center....
It's like the pupil of an eye looking at you, winking .... and the flash is so bright to the Starscope, that err... it almost burns your eye".
Ny understanding is that a hyper-radial or hyperradiant Fresnel lens, as used in the lighthouse at that time is also known as a, 'bulls-eye' lens, with light being directed into the central pupil of the lens.
As you know there were 3 lenses
I presume this could explain the, 'pupil of an eye winking at you'?
How frequently was a 'starscope' used.... seemingly from the outset, with Halt explaining at the Quest 1994 seminar:
We hopped in the Jeep, we drove across Bentwaters base and out the Back Gate of Bentwaters towards the base at Woodbridge, onto the forest service road. We cut down the forest service road, and I could see a lot of activity down there in the forest. I could see some vehicles, I could see there were some people.
We turned in and went down there. They were still playing with some lightalls. They couldn't get the lightalls to work, and they were arguing whether they did or didn’t have fuel, so I verified, yes they had fuel. So I said, it’s simple, send back get another lightall, and we waited there a couple of minutes and got a little bit bored.
In the meantime, Lt. Englund said to me, ‘Take a look through the starlight scope. Look right out there.' So I looked out into the starlight scope and saw there was a dull glow. It was brighter in that area than it was anywhere else. I don’t know if it was significant or not. Anyhow we took a look though the starlight scope for several minutes.
We all took turns to look through it.
We decided one of the four of us should walk toward it. We were getting cold and tired, waiting around for ... [unclear, possibly ‘ten, twelve’]... minutes. So I ask Sgt. Nevels to take a reading with the ANP-27, and he says normal background radiation. He pokes around a little bit. It has a long wire with a probe on it, some thick wire this with a headset.
We drove halfway into the supposed area and I help take a couple more readings, nothing of great significance. We did ...[unclear]... Lt. Englund said, ‘There’s the stake that marks the spot.’, so we didn’t walk all over it. And fine we go and take a look see these indentations".
(End)
This is the lead-up to examining those perceived, 'landing marks and prior to a flashing light then being noticed.
Halt adds:
"When McCabe had seen something, and it's on the tape, said, ‘Look over there.’ or something to that effect. He said a few more words I picked off ...[unclear, possibly ’yeah’]. If you understand those. And there was this bright... The best way I can describe it is when the sun comes up first thing in the morning, and the light is coming through the whole atmosphere. It has a bright glow, first thing in the morning on a clear day. That’s what this object looked like. But it had a black center. And the best way that I can describe it is, sort of oval about like that, and it was closed down a bit so ...[unclear]... disappeared this time. It just closed down ...[unclear]... in the back, about three degrees [? unclear]. It would occasionally go up a little bit, go down a little bit. But generally moving horizontal, occasionally come forward a bit, occasionally it would recede".
There's another interview in which Halt mentions Sgt 'Crash' McCabe being present.