Telescope Reviews: Tree Pollution (removing tree for better obser)

When my wife and I went house-hunting 9 years ago, we had a choice: New neighborhood with no trees, or old neighborhood with mature trees. This was something of a conscious decision, as the style of house was unimportant, but the kind of yard we had WAS. We chose "old neighborhood." By extension, we ended up with some very mature trees in our yard.

In the grand scheme of things, this works rather well: We get plentiful shade during the hot Midwest summers, good cooling protection for the house during the same, and plenty of leaves for the kids to jump in during the fall (despite the hard work it is to rake them and keep them out of the gutters). Unfortunately, although my back yard is wonderfully protected from light (house, garage and large pine tree protect most of three sides, and our neighbor the west turns off lights with one simple phone call), I have 3 very tall maple trees along the south end of the yard. With a 76 foot wide lot, and 75-80 foot high trees, well - do the math. I don't see much to the south. Overhead is GREAT. But southerly views are from the front yard.

Is that ideal? NO. My front yard is not well-suited to observing: One "constantly on" outdoor light from a next-door neighbor, and two others that are often on, plus two more beacon-like garage lights from 4 houses away. There is a small "wedge" of darkness that I can find near the southeast corner of my house, but it affords me a view of only S and SE - almost nothing SW, and even some of the directly south is not good, as it's right over my neighbors house and in-between some trees.

Could I cut down the maples in my backyard? Yeah. In the big-picture, would it be worth it to do so? Probably not. Now granted, one of them is very narrow, and may have some developing health issues. Conceivably, it may HAVE to come down. And that would give me a small slice of the "due south" sky from my back yard.

But unless and until it really NEEDS to come down, I can view a pretty darn good portion of the sky. WOuld I like to be able to see more? Well, duh - of course! But I personally don't see much benefit, as the only benefit is to ME. So beyond environmental concerns and perhaps being pejoratively labelled a "tree hugger" - the reality is that if I did such a thing, it would be completely and totally selfish of me. I have other places from which to observe. Not ideal, perhaps, but usable. Plus, there are friends of mine in the country who have offered their yards for observing, so I have other spots from which to see the sky.

Is it fair of me to cut down at least two (or more) trees in my backyard simply so I can have a bit better observing towards the south for what amounts to a couple days worth of observing over a year's time? Given how much my family benefits from the shade the trees provide (not to mention the energy savings for my own checkbook), I'd say it would be unfair of me to do so.

To each his / her own, but I try to consider others before I make a unilateral decision. Yes, my yard, my property. But it affects more than me.

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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)

Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.

http://www.eyesonthesky.com