For astronomy - Is there a safe, legal way to induce pupil dilation? (other than dark adaptation)?

The stuff in those drops is called atropine. They would make you more light sensitive but they would also make your vision blurred. The eye is not that good as an optical instrument, which is why it works better with a small aperture (=pupil), so that only the central part of the cornea and lens is used.

Being in love causes your pupils to dilate, maybe you should invite someone with you. But then you might not get much astronomy done :-)

Only by taking doctor prescribed medicines that you may be allergic to. I know people who have been given wrong medications or too strong a prescription and had hallucinations. I haven't heard of any safe and legal way other than that. This isn't the 60's anymore and the government isn't experimenting with LSD on test subjects. However LSD is derived from a fungus that grows on rye and if you know your history, people suffered ergot poisoning and were accused of being witches or werewolves (In France or Britain) from ingesting this and "tripping out" so to speak. There are lots of organic materials that will create an hallucination but I don't think anyone should actively be seeking any type of mind altering trip. Life is enough of an hallucination in itself.

Belladonna, is a deadly poisonous member of the nightshades. It's toxin is atropine. It got it's name because they used to give it to women to make their eyes dilate which was to make them more attractive looking. That is what belladonna means in Italian. That toxin is also present in jimsonweed and other toxic members of the nightshades. They are deadly because of the atropine which dilates the eyes. That means that it is unsafe. That was an answer to the question but certainly not a suggestion to eat poison. There is a dramatic loss of depth of field when you open the aperture of a lens which is why they dilate the eyes during eye exams. It reduces the range that things are in focus and makes it harder to accommodate. Night vision is much more important than dilation of the pupils. That comes from rhodopsin which is constantly broken and put back together during vision. It takes it about 30 minutes to completely recover after exposure to light sources.

I've also had those drops...and all they did was make my vision seem more blurry.....not to mention the drops stung like a !@#$.

I don't really know of any artificial way to make pupils larger other than through the natural way in the dark.

Eyes are nothing to mess around with so...I wouldn't be "experimenting" too much if I were you.

Just a little advice there for you.

I don't think dilation drops used by ophthalmologists are going to be available to you. I know I wouldn't be comfortable messing around with something like that. I also recall my vision blurred a bit the last time I visited my doc.

Maybe you should take a different approach and try natural solutions to improve night vision like 100% carrot juice.