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Dealing with new LED street light next to observatory


Jannis

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Knowing i had a traditional old sodium lamp next to my observatory i wasn't much worried as both my Baader RGB filters, as well as the CLS and narrowband filters would take care of it.
However this bulb burned out nearly a year ago and was never replaced - until yesterday... It seems they don't replace any sodium bulbs anymore, and instead replace them one by one with LED.

Now I'm not against LED if it's used properly (directed correct, dimmed at night when there's no traffic etc), but this one happens to shine right on my observatory and is never dimmed even though it usually only passes 4-6 cars per hour at night... :icon_cry:

Being at a street crossing i guess they installed an extra strong lamp, and i doubt they will want to install any kind of shielding on it, so I'm wondering if my best bet is to install one myself?
As in, put up a pole with a plate on it midway between my observatory and the light. Does anyone know if this will have any affect, or will the light shatter from the lamp do too much damage to image anywhere near that direction anyway?

This is how it now looks...

IMG_3565.thumb.jpg.4d0d79ec9f87b19854147c48329661ac.jpg

IMG_3572.thumb.jpg.82bd0172cbc9a544e971c72a7c625531.jpg

IMG_3581.thumb.JPG.cbc9700438ad641317dd91725e1bceb0.JPG

IMG_3576.thumb.jpg.7418defd10f7ced57ddccb8f68bcdf39.jpg

IMG_3560.thumb.jpg.ef59b71bad02b7e6d1a1dab1a6b66a22.jpg

And i gave the CLS a test... Same exposure, same white balance.
Without:
IMG_3557.thumb.jpg.fe1e4230f8dd0de4c6761b5c6c3e5dab.jpg

With:
IMG_3556.thumb.jpg.dd1d601e8041c6dc258f54165f365595.jpg

 

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Hi Jannis,

Sorry to learn of your plight. Don't know what the law is in your country to advise specifically. It's possible the authorities could install some better shielding etc if you tell them of your observatory and how it has ruined the use of it. It's possible with it being so well disguised they took it as being a designer shed and thought nothing more of it. I don't know how responsible the authorities in Norway are to needless light pollution. In the Uk you could inform the council if the new light interfered with sleep, for example. You could also offer to pay for a different shield, dimmer LED bulb and electronics to be installed to dim the bulb when not 'needed' bt passing traffic but it would come on some of the time and then spoil your view. Would you be able to relocate the observatory elsewhere on your land and build a screen to help?

Sorry I can't be more helpful. I do hope you can resolve the problem.

Best Regards,
Steve

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Thanks for the replies. 

I would complain about it keeping me up at night and so if i could, but the fact is that it does not direct any light towards the windows on my house, so the only thing i could complain about is that it lights up part of my property. Don't know if complaining about this would have any effect? 
A few years ago when they installed a madly bright white light bulb that really did lit up our bedroom at night, I did send in a complaint, and attempted to make calls when i didn't get any response. To this day i still never got any response, but luckily the bulb burned out and was replaced by a normal one again - until now.

Moving the observatory is not really an option as it was built last year and consists of around ~3000KG concrete. I could install a shield on my side of the property, but it would only shield the observatory itself. Maybe that would be enough though? 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have actually not had even one single clear night since the end of January, so I have yet to see how the real effect is. Thought, due to moonlight, target location in the sky, and filter being used, i guess it might take several nights to get a conclusive answer.
At least i know what my exposure limits were before the light was put up, and i will update and post a comparison as soon as i get to have a clear night! :)

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