The Observatory has been through many, many generations of flashlights. Red flashlights, of course, to minimize the loss of dark-adapted vision during nighttime telescope observations. What are now red LED sources (and bright ones, at that) had formerly been incandescent. At first large, then moderately sized, followed by a short detour into way-too-tiny.
Dropping a finger-sized black flashlight at night ensures you’ll spend a good deal of time and effort to locate it. 21 cm of extra handle ought to do the trick, like you’ve just requested the key for the gas station bathroom. At least it’s not a hubcap.
