Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 3550
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Here's the view from my front garden. If you are wondering its 4 closely spaced forward facing arc lamps lighting up a golf course at night. Its 2 miles away. Apparently is security to deter vandals from the greens. (the foreground is the next door farms' duck pond)
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Televue 85, GM-8/Gemini, Canon 10D
Coronado SM60/BF10, Baader Herschel Wedge
Leeds Sky Clock Ripon Sky Clock
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eric_zeiner
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/09/06
Posts: 1325
Loc: Georgia, USA 34 29 01.12N 83 5...
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If I had that to look at I think I would give up. I luckily live in a very dark sky site after having lived in Atlanta for three years. I fell bad for you, do these lights ever go out or are they on constantly?
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jimmoscheck
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/08/07
Posts: 1048
Loc: Under the SE Michigan lightdom...
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Man, that's just brutal. Do they keep them on in the winter?
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Jim Moscheck
14.5" f4.3 home built Kriege stlye truss
Stevens primary
"A mind is like a parachute. It doesnt work if it's not open." - Frank Zappa
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starramus
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/01/04
Posts: 1124
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Tonk you are most definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. What are your options on moving? I would have never guessed that is a golf course. Looks more like a high security military installation. Certainly a tremendous waste of electrons. I would imagine that the gophers contribute more vandalism than their human counterparts.
Regards and clear skies,
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Cygnus_x1
Sketcher Extraordinaire
Reged: 11/17/04
Posts: 2116
Loc: Isle of Wight, England
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Why on Earth would anyone want to illuminate a golf course at night? Do people ruin good walks at night then? As for the vandals I should imagine that all that lighting makes their nefarious activities easier, not deter them.
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Visual Deep Sky Observing
Visual Astronomy blog
Fotopic astronomy gallery My photos from astronomy events, etc
8x42 binoculars 'light thimble'
4" refractor and 4" Meade SCT 'light cups'
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Various TeleVue eyepieces
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Mark9473
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/21/05
Posts: 2664
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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I have about 14 streetlights next to my house. Where-ever I stand, there's always some shining right at my - except for a 2 by 2 meter area near the back door...
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Mark
Leica 8x20; Vixen 8x42; Swift 8.5x44, 10x50 and 20x80; TS 7x50; Orion 15x63
WO Megrez II 80 FD + Baader 90° T2 Amici
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eric_zeiner
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/09/06
Posts: 1325
Loc: Georgia, USA 34 29 01.12N 83 5...
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Quote:
Tonk you are most definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. What are your options on moving? I would have never guessed that is a golf course. Looks more like a high security military installation. Certainly a tremendous waste of electrons. I would imagine that the gophers contribute more vandalism than their human counterparts.
Regards and clear skies,
Or a prison 
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tishovlin
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/03
Posts: 1811
Loc: Springfield, Pa
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Tonk,
You take some of the greatest photos, presumably from another locale.
Such are the travails of the suffering artist! 
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Tim S
C6-RGT
13.1" Truss Dob
Osypowski dual-axis Eq. Platform
15x70 Obies
NP-101
Gibraltar tripod/mount
Losmandy G-11 w/Gemini
I'm headin for Galt's Gulch
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14598
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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I went outside to snap a photo of my light pollution and noticed that the sky is CLEAR.
I'll be back in a couple of hours!
I'm grabbing my little 70mm f/4 achro for some peeks at Sagittarius and Cygnus.
Regards and clear skies,
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14598
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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Oh well, nevermind! 
My eyepiece case has been sitting inside in the air conditioning all day. As soon as I went outside and opened it up to the 85F/69%RH air, everything in my case dewed up. I can't see a thing through any of my eyepieces!
Bummer.
Oh well, it feels like a sauna outside anyway.
Ok, Sorry about that Tonk! Back to the light pollution photos!
Regards and clear cool non-muggy skies!
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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RLTYS
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/18/04
Posts: 1729
Loc: New York (Long Island)
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To All
I live on a corner piece of property and there is not a spot in my yard where a street light dosn't interfear. Plus a neighbor has a HUGE Mercury Vapor security light (that goes on about midnight) that not only shines on my house but seems to light up half the block.  I've learned to adapt to these horrid conditions and surprisingly get a lot of observing done. 
Clear Skies.
Rich (RLTYS)
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10" F4.8 Refl.
4" F5 Refr.
50mm F12 Refr. (Tasco #6TE-5)
12x63 and 10x50 Binoculars.
"I want to do more then just look."
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Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 3550
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Quote:
Plus a neighbor has a HUGE Mercury Vapor security light (that goes on about midnight) that not only shines on my house but seems to light up half the block.
Fortunately this sort of behaviour in the UK is now a civil offence. Section 102 of the Clean Neighbourhoods act came into force April 2006 and allows complainants to deal with this. The offence is shining overbright light into neighbours properties. The local council are now mandated to investigate the complaint and go through a process with the offender (repoint or shield light, reduce brightness and limit the time the light is on). If no action is taken it can go via the civil courts. Unfortunately there are exemptions to 102. Commercial properties only have to prove best possible effort (in avoiding the problem), sports facilities are totally exempt (e.g. golf courses ) as are bus/train stations, airports and docks.
Ironically the first case that went to court involved new powerful security lights on poles errected around a council building. The same council that is expected to investigate residents complaints! The local residents won BTW.
So we have a start in the UK but it really only has strength against your domestic neighbours.
I've used the threat (politely) of 102 against a new neigbour who was leaving on a horizontally mounted 500watt lamp for over 5 hours each night (so that they could see the path after being out for the night) and provided them with the info and supporting documents (guidelines to council officers). They agreed that they were spending a lot of money to prevent a trip over a step. Anyway the result is they pointed the light down out of the road, reduced it to 150 watts and set the PIR timer for just a few minutes. The results are very acceptable
As for that golf course (see picture above) - only saving grace is these lights are off after 10:00 pm - council rules.
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Televue 85, GM-8/Gemini, Canon 10D
Coronado SM60/BF10, Baader Herschel Wedge
Leeds Sky Clock Ripon Sky Clock
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RandyR
Enginerd
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 14033
Loc: Castle Rock, CO 6677' MSL
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Other than some neighborhood porch lights, the overhead LP is pretty low where I live (around 20 miles S. of Denver)...
Looking N. is a problem, because of the "Denver Nebuloscity" but generally pretty dark skies at the house. My problem with observing from home is that houses and trees get in the way...
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"Dark Skies & Great Viewing"
RandyR / NQ0R
GPS 9.25 XLT/Sky Align /FeatherTouch
TV85 w/FeatherTouch
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Bruce MacDonald
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/12/06
Posts: 1019
Loc: Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
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I have a football club near my house, and a sports centre a mile to the north. The football club isn't so bad, they have their floodlights on twice a week or so and they are off by 10pm if not sooner. The sports centre has floodlit all-weather football and hockey pitches and they sometimes forget to turn them off promptly after 10pm.
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Bruce MacDonald
Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
Per Mare Per Terras
Viz Top Tip: Don't waste money buying expensive binoculars. Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.
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KennyJ
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 10082
Loc: Lancashire UK
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My biggest problem is that less than three miles east of our house is a large brewery with 24 / 7 operations that for some reason is illuminated as if it were a 100,000 seater sports stadium located in the middle of an airport .
Fortunately , my backyard / viewing location is on the opposite side of the house to it , and I've finally managed to obliterate all street lighting from that side , 12 years after planting a dozen Leylandii conifer trees specifically for the purpose .
I keep them cropped to a height of around fifteen feet , which is hard work , but keeps our rear patio area completely private .
Alas , the situation has got worse where I'm writing this from , at our holiday home in Wales , where following a claim from a resident who fell down a pot - hole in the road , EXTRA lighting has been installed all around the site , which stays on all night long , plus the site landscape gardeners were overly aggressive last winter , chopping down all the tall shrubery which surrounded our property to a ridiculously short height :-(
At least all the rain we've had since April has helped them grow back with a vengeance !
Regards , Kenny
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Two eyes and a preference to use both
Zeiss 7 x 42 BGAT
Captain's Helmsman 7 x 50
Nikon 10 x 42 Superior E
Swift Audubon Kestrel 10 x 50
Helios 15 x 70 Observation
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Zeiss 85 Diascope
Helios 102 f5 refractor
Various eyepieces barlows tripods mounts etc.
Panasonic Lumix DMC - TZ5 digital camera
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Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 3550
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Quote:
Leylandii conifer trees
Ha ha - they are in the CN act as well  .
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Televue 85, GM-8/Gemini, Canon 10D
Coronado SM60/BF10, Baader Herschel Wedge
Leeds Sky Clock Ripon Sky Clock
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Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 3550
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Quote:
where following a claim from a resident who fell down a pot - hole in the road , EXTRA lighting has been installed all around the site
Surely the solution is to fill in the hole - not light it up
At my static holiday home site (in the darkst Yorkshire Dales) everyone sensibly goes around at night with a torch/lantern. Whats happened to the principle of taking responsibility for yourself. Anyone who walks around at night in teh dark and falls down holes deserves to! (says me who fell 4 foot down the hole dug for my observatory pier, while gazing upwards - whoops! and it hurt - hey I could sue myself!)
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wirenut
sage
Reged: 09/21/06
Posts: 463
Loc: m'dale Pa
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that could be my SW view if a hill blocked out the source some. there is a hospital with a helipad to my SW I have only noticed them off once and that was at 4:00 AM
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8"GSO dob
8,17 mm hyperions & FT rings
21mm stratus
25,15,9 mm plossls
ultima barlow
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Pedestal
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/11/06
Posts: 3031
Loc: Smoggy Bottom, Baytown,Texas
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Humm. I don't know how to take a picture of it, but imagine mile after mile of refinerys, chemical plants, industrial sites, all lighted like daylight at night. Imagine living more or less in the middle of that.
Locally, it's not to bad. I have one neighbor who leaves a "securiy light" on all night, but it's relatively easy to block. (And they are good neighbors. They would turn it off for a while if I asked.) Other close lights are screened by trees and houses.
In my case it's just something you have to live with, and try to get to a dark sky site when you can, and I do have one available year round. But it's a 2 hour drive.
Hubert
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www.smoggybottom.org
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Qkslvr
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/23/06
Posts: 1052
Loc: NE Ohio, US
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In the summer I have a Driving Range about a mile to the East, fortunately there's a bit of a hill between us, So nothing as bad as what tonk has, And then in the winter I have 2 ski resorts a couple miles to the west, that are open until at least 2:00am, with a lot of lights shining on a lot of white shiny snow.
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Mike
N8/CG-5/40D
Coming sometime/Maybe FrankenRebel
Edited by Qkslvr (08/21/07 05:08 PM)
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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The only light pollution I have are the domes from town (west), and a city/town combination (south). They mainly stay within the 30° airmass unless there's excess moisture in the air. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
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 *Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery
8"SCT ~ 120achro ~ 90Mak ~ 80ST ~ 11x70s ~ 22x100s
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Jimbo100
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/05
Posts: 1095
Loc: Oxford, UK.
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Quote:
hey I could sue myself!
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Jimbo100
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/05
Posts: 1095
Loc: Oxford, UK.
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I'm not too bad here. I don't actually live in Oxford (the nearest City) but in a village 8 miles to the south.
I have mild light pollution (ZNELM = 5.8 on darkest nights) with the local towns causing light domes to the North, East and South-East, the worst of which, to the North is approx. 50 degrees in extent - though like Carol said they get worse with certain atmospheric conditions, especially clouds!!! 
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Jimbo100
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/05
Posts: 1095
Loc: Oxford, UK.
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Just taken some photos for ya. (Not very good, due to rubbish camera and operator!! )
This is the view from my backgarden (where I do most observing) looking to the North over the houses [and a couple of tall trees].
Surprise, surprise ...it's cloudy tonight!!
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Jimbo100
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/05
Posts: 1095
Loc: Oxford, UK.
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And this is the view to the South East, where the light pollution from another town is slightly less.
(It looks brighter though because you can see closer to the horizon than in the other photo)
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3376
Loc: In the doghouse.
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Living in central/eastern CT, most of the western sky is washed out to 40-45º from the horizon, thanks to Hartford nearby to the west, and New York city to the southwest. Otherwise, the skies are consistently magnitude 6ish everywhere else (on moonless, transparent nights, of course).
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Jason®
Phlog
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14598
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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I took a couple of photos, but they actually came out pretty dark - so I am lucky. I live in an urban neighborhood that has plenty of street lights, but due to a fortunate and random combination of obstructions, almost all of the direct glare is blocked. I have a very dark corner of the yard that is shielded by trees, 8-foot privacy fence, the house, and the garage. But the price I pay for this localized darkness, is that my view of the north is almost completely blocked up to about 60-degrees or more, and my view to the west is 90% obstructed until you reach the zenith. I can observe to the east with a neighbor's house obstructing the view up to about 30 degrees. I have a good view due south, which is the darkest, but the garage blocks everything below 25 degrees or so.
The western sky is the direction where most of the development is taking place and towards the most populous part of the city. The entire western sky is a bright aquamarine color up to about 70 or 75 degrees. The east is a somewhat darker aquamarine up to about 40 or 45 degrees. The south and the zenith are a moderate navy blue color with a ZNELM of about 4.9 or 5.0 on very good nights with low humidity and low light scatter. On most nights the ZNELM is about 4.4 or 4.5
I would estimate the Bortle class here on the better nights is about 7 (red).
Clear skies,
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
Edited by Glassthrower (08/22/07 02:05 PM)
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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"..a neighbor's house obstructing the view.."
 What's a neighbor?
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*Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery
8"SCT ~ 120achro ~ 90Mak ~ 80ST ~ 11x70s ~ 22x100s
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csa/montana
Astro Ambassador
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 28260
Loc: montana
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I have zero light pollution. One neighbor has a motion-sensor light on their approach to their gate, but it goes off in a few minutes. Their house lights are hidden behind large trees.
No other lights around, except a couple yard lights quite some distance away, maybe 8-10 miles.
Carol
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Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
AstroTech 66ED / Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Tak LE 5mm B/TMB 3.2
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