So you think you have light pollution ?

[Astro_Baby]

Think you have light pollution - heres what I have. Three views from my flat.

Looking South I have a whole bunch of flats that are lit up like a Christmas tree all night. The skyglow in the distance is Horley and Gatwick Airport. Againts it about the only things you can see are Venus and Jupiter.

Looking West I have a huge tree and the small view I used to be able to enjoy is now ruined by a new owner in the industrial unit who insist on have 10 million watts of lamps running from dusk till dawn. Its so bright it even wipes out the nav lights on a distant radio mast.

And finally Looking North - same industrial unit pumping out so much light that I can literellay read by it in my flat 400 yards away and 2 stories higher. Its so bright even with my curtains closed the back bedroom is illuminated. This used to be my only dark sky area - now gone.

These pics were all taken around 1am last night. Yup the industrial units has every single light on as you can see. Theres no one in it mind - not a soul.

Makes me wonder why I bother to try and save energy and also makes you realise that if global warming is real we are all stuffed.

I dont have a view to the East because of trees and a railway embankment.

You can see why I get so little observing done. For me a night observing means a 90 minute drive each way. Sighs

Wish I had taken up shotguns again.

Anyway next time some of you lucky people with home obs are moaning about a stray airplane messing up a pic spare a thought for us urban astronomers.

[Mikea]

Crikey! Your industrial unit beats my 5 (I think) local street lights any day. What a dreadful waste of energy. I suppose they justify it by saying it improves security - well maybe some outside lights on their own would do that

[Taff]

Hi Astro baby' that is bad with light poll.The photo looking north looks like the lights are left on for no reason.Mark

[martin_h]

We have a hospital about 500 mtrs as the crow flies, and you wouldnt believe the amount of lights on, no wonder the NHS is skint!

[Paul78]

It's mainly for security purposes I guess. But yeah, I have to agree it's also waste of energy..well not totally though.

[Ibbo!]

It's mainly for security purposes I guess. But yeah, I have to agree it's also waste of energy..well not totally though.

I'm sorry that does not hold true for me

The streetlight was working

damaged fence, smashed bottles and litter

The streetlight was not working

no problems

streetlight fixed

destroyed fence damaged cars

they don't congregate under a broken streetlamps

even if you do believe that light scares away the bad uns too bright a light causes so much glare and deep shadows as to make the light useless

Its just a plain waste of energy, resources and money

perhaps we might realise when we run out of all the above

and I'm sadly as bad as anybody else

Steve

[Paul78]

Hi Steve. You have a point but what I meant was it's way much better to have lights than to have none for security purposes. Things can easily be done with no lights on.. If you wanna break in inside a establishment having no lights will make it a lot more easier.

[Ibbo!]

Hi Steve. You have a point but what I meant was it's way much better to have lights than to have none for security purposes. Things can easily be done with no lights on.. If you wanna break in inside a establishment having no lights will make it a lot more easier.

I do not agree with that philosophy

You light it up they can see whats there

If I remember correctly most robbery type crime takes place at school closing time

Violent crime mostly at home sad to say

Steve

[tinvek]

i read a study somewhere that aparently crime tends to drop when there's no street lighting as apparently crminals llike to see what they are doing same as the rest of us. of course crimes against people may just drop because there are less people on dark streets

[samtheeagle]

Yowzers! I feel guilty for hating the single solitary street light next to my back garden now... No wonder that you despair Astro_Baby! :S

[acey]

A sad sight, Astro Baby. But your views of the Moon, planets and bright double stars should still be good.

My dark site is a 50 minute drive each way, so I don't do it often (given the moon, weather and other committments, it ends up being about once a month). I just make sure I make the most of each precious session.

Nobody expects to go skiing in their back garden. There are some hobbies that you've just got to make a bit of an effort for, and enjoy them when you can.

[661-pete]

I'm inclined to agree with Ibbo and Tinvek here. Read somewhere, burglars actually thrive on street lights. Thing is, streetlights create lots of shadows behind trees, bushes, fences, sort of places burglars can duck into. And they don't need to carry a torch. Passers-by don't look into such shadowy places, they're conditioned to see only the well lit-up bits of the scene. Forget the stereotyped image of Burglar Bill in his dark clothes, working in the pitch-dark with a torch and a sack marked "SWAG". It doesn't work that way, these days!

Very sorry to read about your woes, Astro-Baby! Is that Redhill by any chance? I used to live there when I was a kid (1950s/60s) and you'll be mad at me when I say, I could easily see down to mag. 5 or even 6 in our back garden, back then. But -- times are changing for all of us, everywhere. I wish I knew the answer...

[nitram100]

air rifle.

[daz]

I think you would have a case for light pollution with the council WRT the industrial unit, Mel

[iamjulian]

It is completely crazy the way we light everthing up at night. I can see the argument both ways in terms of outside lights, making it easier/harder for neer-do-wells. But why light the inside of the building!? Surely that definitely makes it easier for them? Not to mention the electricity cost.

[robneath]

The light pollution you are suffering is similar to what I had to contend with in Chatham. In my case the only way I could observe was with bins and that wasnt that easy either. now I live in Neath SW Wales LP isnt too much of a problem and for that I count myself very lucky.

[The_Major]

Astro-Baby, we in CFDS see many many examples such as yours and the problem is getting worse. We are making progress with some of the lighting retailers but its slow going. All I can say to you is for you to email those pictures to your local MP, there is an election coming up so they may take some action!

As for so called security lighting, it only helps the the burglar, the lights dazzle any potential onlooker and help Mr burglar sort out his toolkit. See CfDS: All about floodlights

Mark

Regional Information Officer(Wales)

Campaign for Dark Skies

[Astro_Baby]

Acey - you must be joking. I can tell you what I can see from here and its this - and this is IT - I mean you wont see anything but this outside my flat.

The Moon (whooooo)

Venus

Jupiter

Saturn

errrrr thats it

You might just catch a bright star if its near the Zenith - I saw Vega once.

You have to see the light pollution here to believe it - the night skay is lit up like day light.

And yes the Industrial Unit out the back has EVERY SINGLE light on from dusk to dawn even when everyone has gone home.

[Ibbo!]

Your LP in beyond the pail and you have my sympathies ours was nowhere near yor problem but thats one of the main reasons we moved

Sorry to rant on your thread last night

Steve

[Nick R]

I live on the sea front , hundreds of double street lights every where ,Why i ask my self .. x mas decco,s up soon ,more lights

Good point is iam only 20 ft above sea level so i have fantastic Northern and western views ,when the lights are not working i have great views all round..

[Astro_Baby]

Not sure what your apologising really - did you rant ? In any event no offence taken I'm sure.

[Tinkerbell]

Lo All

That is bad pollution AB and I would think the council should be made to do something about it.

Have a look at this < need-less light pollution >

This gives you an idea what you can't see under a badly polluted sky and what you can see under a rural sky.

[oceanheadted]

Mel,

that's terrible LP. Apparently when the last big earthquake happended in LA people phoned up the emergency services to say there was something wrong with the sky (alien invaison etc) because the power was out and they could actually see the stars!

You can only hope the situation will get better.

[Aldebaran5]

Hi AB I fully sympathise with you but its the same with parking. We lived in an area known for its non parking availability so to get over the problem we moved. Now we still suffer from lack of parking space but we do have a long drive. I know this doesn't solve your problem but if its too bad then consider moving, just a thought.

Keith.

[PortableAstronomer]

Until a few months ago, I would drive *to* a LP'd site to do my observing & imaging.

My back yard was darker than the observing site, but not safe and would keep the paranoid neighbours awake. So I met up with a mate of mine who works at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford which is surrounded by lighting. I would pack up our stuff on a clear evening and drive *to* this location. Just because there was nowhere else that was safe.

From there we took some reasonable images using just an IDAS filter. I should have got into narrowband imaging earlier.

This thread (about working with extreme LP) might be of interest:

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-tips-tricks-techniques/93728-examples-extreme-processing-extreme-light-pollution.html?highlight=extreme