Sodium Vapour Light

[ispookie666]

Newbie here!

Used to have a star travel a while back.  Slowly getting back into stargazing.  

I live in a Bortle 4 area and the sky is beautiful, except a sodium vapour light just next to my house (unfortunately its on all night due to a Cross junction and a railway crossing) which spills light onto my garden and patio.  

Will using a light pollution filter help filtering the light out?  

[Jiggy 67]

A filter will have a very limited effect but it may provide some protection. Much better would be to speak to your local council and ask them to fit a shield to the street lamp. You will probably be surprised how cooperative they will be. If you can reduce the light reaching your garden and use a lp filter it will be a huge help

[Carbon Brush]

+1 for @Jiggy 67 advice.

Is the light an 'orange' low pressure or a pink high pressure?

The orange light is all but a single wavelength and easy to filter. The high pressure contains multiple wavelengths and is more awkard.

This is something I took some years ago when subjected to orange sodium, with and without a pollution filter.

Good luck with your request for reducing 'light trespass', 'nuisance' and 'pollution'. Those are the key words if 'please' gets ignored.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Even high-pressure sodium lights are reduced quite a bit by an LPR or UHC filter. The former are better for galaxies, clusters, and reflection nebulae, as a rule, the latter for emission nebulae

[ispookie666]

Emailed the council's street lighting section. I'm not holding much hope. Maybe the follow up would be adding light nuisance, trespass etc. 

Still waiting for my sky watcher 200p 

[Zermelo]

On 17/07/2021 at 10:07, ispookie666 said:

Emailed the council's street lighting section. I'm not holding much hope.

You may be pleasantly surprised. I recall seeing a couple of posts this year where the council has responded positively.

[Carbon Brush]

More than ten years ago I sent a photo of an orange sky to the councillor, responsible for the ground below, pointing out this was taxpayers money and CO2 emissions.
Did they think it was a good thing to do?
I might as well have sent the mathematical proof of the 3 body problem.

At a similar time I wrote to the council highways lighting dept. about how their new scheme replacing lamp posts was ill considered.
Light fixtures in the tree canopy do not light roads and footpaths particularly well.
Their reply was an attempt to bamboozle me with 'the road is class nnn which according to regulation XYZ123 requires ......

I have though had a few small victories. If we all do our bit to sort out one problem at a time, things will improve.

Keep us updated.

[Robp]

Maybe things have changed recently but I have tried three times in the past to get a light next to my garden shielded and got refused each time 😭

Hopefully you will have better luck and I might have to try again. Forth time lucky perhaps.

Edited July 18, 2021 by Robp

[ispookie666]

Will do.  

The light spill is really bad.  Makes most of the garden pretty unusable,  the night sky from the shielded part of my house is just amazing.  

[Starwatcher2001]

I believe you have a stronger case if the light trespass is into a bedroom, where it could cause sleep problems. Is there any chance that that might be the situation?

Edit: could a "mobile" light shield work?  There's some threads on SGL where people have had success by temporarily hanging a strategically placed tarp from the washing line to create a dark zone.

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Starwatcher2001

[ispookie666]

I think the council have done something.  They have added a light diffuser at the tethered end which has reduced the light spillage into the garden.  Its only there on two light posts which I had reported.  Cannot complain ☺️

[Neil H]

Hi I had the council change to street lights and put shields on both as I told them they shine in my bedroom , I just need them to knock down the flats in the distance and I sorted