lp ruined last night

[algol]

It really hit home how bad the light pollution is in my neck of the woods last night. I found some of the usual targets like m13, m57, the double cluster, and m31, this is where things went downhill. Andromeda was very washed out, I went for comet jacques but I could find the guide stars but not the comet, I tried for m81/82 again guide stars but no fuzzies, m101 and m51 were a similar story guide stars but no fuzzies.

Looking at the sky in general the square of Pegasus only had three stars one being completely invisible in the murk. This affected my ability to find uranus as it was also in the murk. The lp is that bad that the keystone of Hercules isn't readily apparent. Pisces was a no go I did faintly make out the steering wheel in Aquarius but only confirmed it in binoculars.

Desperately seeking a dark sky sight does anyone know a good one near to wigan? Or will a lp filter or better eyepiece help?

This was using my skyliner 200 and stock eyepiece

[oldpink]

I know exactly what you mean
while imaging last night the streetlight at the bottom of my garden went out
the difference in the images was literally night & day even with a Astronomik CLS clip filter

taken with the exact same settings a few minutes apart

[oldpink]

don't even joke about that, quite rightly any talk of illegal acts are frowned upon here on SGL

I'm hoping I can show this to the council and hope they can accommodate some sort of solution like a shield
or dimming after a certain time of night

[acey]

In this case it sounds like "murk" was an issue as well as light pollution. I observe at a very dark site, but if it's murky then I won't see much - and what I mean here is a very fine mist that can leave the Milky Way still shining quite brightly, but noticeably cuts the number of visible stars. At a light-polluted site this murk gets lit up creating what I refer to as a dirty sky, pretty useless for observing.

I have no faith in light pollution filters: the only answer is to get away from the pollution. If you can get more than twenty miles away from any extensive streetlighting then you should hopefully have a good view, at least at the zenith. The problem is that in most parts of the country, driving twenty miles from one town brings you within twenty miles of another.

Light pollution is to be distinguished from glare sources. A single streetlight is a glare source: all you need to do is screen yourself from it. Light pollution is illumination of the sky itself from many light sources on the ground. Turning off a single streetlight makes no difference to that.

[algol]

Just a joke fellas, is it true that councils are planning on swapping over to the better street lights that mainly shine down?

The Orange glow extends a good 20 degrees into the sky if not more

[oldpink]

some have changed to new lamps inc the one at the bottom of my garden that is the cause of 90% of my LP issues
whether it is better or worse for us Astronomers is debatable

[Spikey]

Street lighting and nuisance lighting are contentious issues on an astronomy forum and suggestions on how to 'fix' the situation sometimes defy common sense.

 

The moderation team would like to remind all posters that CRIMINAL DAMAGE IS ILLEGAL - do not post suggestions of criminal damage on SGL.

 

This includes air rifles, black paint, pointing lasers at the sensor, tampering with the electrics (you could die) and 'anything' else that prevent it from working.

 

Suggestions of illegal activity, even in jest,  concerning tampering with any nuisance lights will result in 'WITHOUT WARNING' sanctions from the moderation team.

 

If this is unclear or you feel you cannot comply with this request please do not post on this subject.

 

Many thanks

 

The SGL Moderation team.

[acey]

Just a joke fellas, is it true that councils are planning on swapping over to the better street lights that mainly shine down?

The Orange glow extends a good 20 degrees into the sky if not more

Many (most?) are going over to lights that are "full cut-off" i.e. do not shine light above horizontal. But they are whiter, far brighter, and their light reflects off ground and buildings into the sky, so the end result (in my locality) is more light pollution as seen from out of town, not less. Within town it's as impossible as ever.

[Scosmico]

The astronomy centre in Todmorden was a safe harbour for me when I was living in Manchester. Reasonable dark skies, nice people, big scopes and interesting people to talk to. 

http://www.astronomycentre.org.uk/

[scarp15]

Many (most?) are going over to lights that are "full cut-off" i.e. do not shine light above horizontal. But they are whiter, far brighter, and their light reflects off ground and buildings into the sky, so the end result (in my locality) is more light pollution as seen from out of town, not less. Within town it's as impossible as ever.

That is so true, the white light projected from high street lights seems to be even worse than the old sodium, even though it is supposedly projected downwards. Getting away to a dark site may not completely eliminate sky-glow from all aspects, but will enable full dark adaption, so even in moderately good transparency it is worth the effort.

[dick_dangerous]

There's a van that parks down our street - he moves it round so it's not always outside the same person's house. I'm thinking of leaving a note under his windscreen wiper to let him know its fine to leave it outside ours because the difference with observing from out there are so marked when the light is blocked by the van!

They recently switched to the downwards lights in my parent's street - it's true that on the street the light is pretty dazzling, but in their back garden the view is markedly enhanced. If only my Mum wasn't in the habit of belligerently turning on the kitchen lights it would be a perfect observing for my old Dad...

Here in London I've just learned to accept the LP!

DD

[Extraterrestrial]

I don't have a scope or even binoculars because I've just recently gotten back into astronomy and stargazing, but I completely understand your situation. I'm in Cincinnati and the light pollution here is just sad. Sometimes I'll get lucky and everyone will have their lights off, but even then the "muck" in the sky blocks my view. It's so disappointing because looking at the sky at night is the one thing that gives me inner peace!