Re: How to deal with your Neighbors Outdoor Lights


reconair wrote:
Hey fellow S.A.A. Members,

As I'm sure most of us do, my neighbors are not very good at turning off
their outdoor lights at night. This is true especially, when I've got the
scope in the driveway trying to see those deep sky wonders. So I drafted a
letter that I intend to stuff in their mailboxes at the earliest occasion.
Below is the content of that letter:


Howdy:

How do we deal with neighbors' lights down here in the swamp? Currently
I'm using .22 shorts. The ol' 30.06 was a _bit_ much. ;-)

Seriously, I think the best approach is not a letter stuffed in their
mailboxes, but a polite, personal approach to each neighbor followed by
a "thank you" when they comply.

Frankly, though, you're likely to find this to be a continuing problem
that needs to be dealt with by other means (not with the 30.06! ;-)).
There will always be times when somebody forgets to turn off the porch
light, needs to leave it on because the wife/girlfriend is coming home
late from the office, etc. You can try introducing them to
sky-friendly lighting fixtures, but I expect your success on that
avenue might be limited--worth a try, of course.

And then there are local streetlights which you and your neighbors
can't turn-off if you wanted to--short of the 30.06 (though you can
look into having sky-friendly shields like the Hubble Sky Cap installed
on them).

All things considered, your best bet--or at least the most practical
solution--may be to set up portable, lightweight shields to keep
ambient light off you and your scope. I've built these in very simple
fashion from 1x4 lumber and muslin (ala' stage flats/scenery). If you
don't want to cobble something together, you can buy ready-made light
shields that are very effective.

If that's too much trouble, a simple hood made of ripstop nylon used in
conjunction with an eyepatch or a pair of red "light pollution goggles"
will do the trick.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Join the SCT User Mailing List.
<http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sct-user>
============================
See my home page at
<http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland/index.htm>
for further details!
============================
For Uncle Rod's Astro Blog See:
<http://journals.aol.com/rmollise/UncleRodsAstroBlog/>

.