Creating garden shade...

[chrispj]

My neighbour has taken to leaving his bathroom light on all night (which I completely understand as we leave a light on in case our kids wake up in the night), but unfortunately without anything in the way of blinds or curtains although it's a small window it shines out over about 95% of our garden area. I'm considering a strategically placed tiltable sunshade umbrella (or 2!) to create some darker space to observe from (sadly not enough space available for a shed/observatory), though my wife tells me I'm going a little over the top.

 

Has anyone out there had to do something similar or gone (much?) further in an attempt to block out the neighbour's lights? Would anyone care to share any good stories that could convince the missus I'm still relatively sane? 

[cloudsweeper]

Perfectly sane!  If the neighbour's "OK", I'd have a friendly word.  If  not, come up with a screen of some sort.

Until recently, I had a problem with two lights blazing across several gardens from a block of sheltered accommodation.  I put up a low screen on top of the fence, then wrote to the management.  Also got the local council involved.  Bottom line - they've finally subdued the lights, so all's well, but it took 15 months!

Not easy being a suburban astronomer.  😉

Doug.

[almcl]

One slightly bizarre approach I used was to attach a tarpaulin to the uprights of my grandkids' trampoline and use this a shade:

[Phil Fargaze]

I`ve utilised the washing line in the past. I pegged a tarpaulin to it and was able to position it in the correct place to block unwanted light.

[jjohnson3803]

Originally, I hung black polyester shower curtains on a PVC pipe frame for lightblocks.  I switched to hanging the curtains on an 8-foot closet rod on deck rail planter hooks since I usually observe from my back deck.  More recently, I've been using a quick clamp to hold a large but shallow cardboard box on the deck rail at a strategic spot.  Cheap, lightweight, and easy to set up / transport.

 

[tomato]

I have a very bright LED streetlight adjacent to my back garden and have recently taken up visual astronomy on the back lawn. I was thinking of erecting some poles along the boundary fence and attaching a blackout curtain to this but realised we have a ruddy great tilt able parasol in the garden already. When put up in the correct location, it blocks the streetlight a treat!

Nobody will see you putting it up at 11 pm.😃

[mark skelton]

Though my next door neighbour put her blinds down I still put my tarp up to stop any stray light coming through.