Vent: The new streetlights in my neighborhood are ruining my astro shots

I remember when I first got into astronomy photos about ten years ago. I could set up my telescope in the backyard and get clear shots of Orion's Belt without any trouble. Now, with all the new LED streetlights the city installed last year, the sky glow is insane. I tried to capture the Perseids meteor shower last August, and all my pics came out washed out from light pollution. It's kinda sad because my kids used to love looking at the stars with me, but now they can barely see anything. I've had to drive an hour out to the countryside just to get decent shots, which is a hassle. Sometimes I look back at my old photos and feel nostalgic for those darker nights. Honestly, I wish the town would consider dimming the lights or using shields to direct the light downward, lol.

4 comments

4 Comments

piperbailey2mo agoTop Commenter

You mentioned wishing the town would use shields. Have you ever tried complaining to them directly about the light pollution?

spencer_park262mo ago

Absolutely, @piperbailey, I've tried that route more than once. Called the town offices last year about the glaring streetlight right outside my bedroom. The person I spoke with was nice but said there was "no budget" for new fixtures. It's incredibly frustrating when they just see lights as a safety thing and ignore how BAD the spillover is. We even had a neighborhood group send emails about the park lights staying on all night. Total waste of energy and it just washes out the whole sky. You get the sense they won't act unless a huge number of people make noise about it.

parkerbrown2mo ago

Did your neighborhood group ever try showing up at a town meeting with photos of the park lights? Emails are easy to ignore, but a bunch of people in a room holding up pictures of that all-night glow might force them to look at the actual problem.

wesley_jones2mo ago

We finally got ours fixed by getting a local news reporter to do a story on it.