I haven’t bitched about lights for awhile.
Maybe it’s time once again.
I went outside last night and the
sky was pretty clear. The seeing was OK, I could see a fair amount of stars and
the moon wasn’t due to rise until nearly 11. Being ¾ illuminated, it would be hiding
the stars as it got higher. (The moon is one of the world’s largest light
polluters!)
Looking around the neighborhood I
realized that it would be fruitless to take the telescope outside. Two
neighbors on the right of my house had their porch lights on, shining right
where I would set up my scope. To the left, the neighbor a house away from me
has a light that is never off, sitting in their front yard, illuminating houses
all around it. Luckily there is a row of RoseASharon which hides it from my
front yard. But if I need to move the scope onto the street, I’m right in its
glow. To make matters worse, across the street from me, the dining room light
was on, this also shined right onto my observing spot.
I recently cut my hedges down a
bit, they were getting a little out of hand. When I did this, it exposed myself to
more lights. I took the dog for a walk around
the street and enjoyed what I could see. Everywhere I went, I ran into someone’s
porch or walk light. Being a Friday night, there were 3 or 4
parties going on, bonfires were burning and laughter was heard. It reminded me of
summers in the past, back in the care free days. I tripped a few light sensors
during my walk and cursed under my breath.
If you know me at all, you’ve heard
me talk about the problem of light pollution, or an even better term, light
trespassing! Simply said, lights hide the stars with their glare. Lights also make our pupils shrink and because of that we can’t
see the fainter stars in the sky. Exposed to a light, such as a car headlight
or a porch light, it can take up to 20 minutes before our pupils open up again.
To an astronomer, these are 20 LONG minutes!
I remember a time I was in West
Virginia, camping near Seneca Rocks with the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh. A
huge fire had been built and everyone was surrounding it with beers in hand. Meanwhile,
I was about 25-30 yards away gazing at the sky. I could see Messier Objects by
eye! The Milky Way was spread across the sky in all its glory. Try as I might, I
couldn’t drag them away from the fire…their loss! The next time I went down the
telescope went with me.
Another time, in the 80’s, we had
gone to Lewes Delaware for a week. One night we went to a small bridge crossing
a back waterway to fish for crabs. What a great way to get a cheap dinner! Tie
a piece of chicken on a string and drop it off the bridge, a crab will grab it
and not let go. All you do is pull it up and drop it in a bucket! Anyway…the
sky there was fantastic, stars went from horizon to horizon. It was easy to get
lost in them, the familiar stars we all (?) know were hidden by all the
fainter stars that we usually don’t see from our light polluted skies. I doubt
if this darkness could be experienced there now.
There was one other time which
sticks in my mind. I was heading back home after visiting friends in New
Hampshire. The Space Shuttle was due to cross the sky about 10 minutes after I
left. I pulled over on the side of a small two lane road and got out to watch
for it. The morning sky was filled with stars. I was in shock, I nearly forgot
about the shuttle pass. The absence of
lights shows us so much! Even though this happened a decade or two ago, I
remember it like it was yesterday! Wonder has a way of engraving things in our
minds!
The astronomy club I belong to has
two observatories, the closest one to me is in Deer Lakes Park. It is a twenty
minute drive from my house. It is amazing to me how many more stars are visible
from a site that close to where I live.
Sadly the darkness at the observatories is slowly disappearing, people
just feel the need for light.
After walking the dog, I sat in a
chair in the glow of the neighbor’s lights and looked at the stars I could
still see. I have a light shield I built for this very reason but to set it up
would take time and it wouldn’t hide all the lights anyway. I settled for the
chair in the darkest spot I could find and enjoyed the stars I could see.
Maybe I’ll try again on Saturday night I thought. Perhaps they will forget to
flick their switches!
On Saturday night, I returned to
the front yard around 10 and surprisingly, most of the neighbor’s lights were
off. There were still a few problems though. Across the street, the front porch
light was on along with two garage lights. They shined on my house and her
neighbor’s house. The people beside me had their porch light off but they have a
light on the side of their house. It illuminated the house beside them which
in turn, shined on my observation site.
Light pollution along with Saturn
& Jupiter and some of the stars of Sagittarius to the right
My light shield is to the
left
I brought up my light shield and
set it up, hiding the glow of the house on my side of the street. My hedges and
my car helped block the light from across the street. Jupiter and Saturn were
in a perfect spot for observing. I brought the 8” Newtonian out to allow for
some closer views. After it became acclimated, the views were spectacular, even
with the lights below the pair.
One of Jupiter’s moons was getting
closer to the planet as I watched. It took over an hour for Europa to disappear
behind the disc of Jupiter. It was sort of like watching paint dry…slowly it
got closer and closer. I would observe Saturn for awhile and then go back to
see how it was progressing.
I feel as if it took about three
minutes from when it appeared to touch the planet’s surface till I couldn’t see
it anymore. Watching the four bright moons move gave me a good perspective of
what their orbits were like.
Saturn was as wonderful as always.
By spending time watching the planet you can see things that a quick glance
would miss. The seeing was rock steady! As I watched every so often it appeared
to sharpen even more. I saw marking (though faint) on the planets disc and
could see individual rings and a nice dark shadow on them from the planet. The
planet had a definite 3 dimensional look to it!
I had an early call for church the
next day so I started tearing the set-up down after watching Europa disappear.
As I was writing down a couple notes, using my red flashlight to protect my
night vision, a truck pulled into a parking spot down the street. His high
beams caught me right in the eyes. Some very bad things drifted through my mind…a
couple minutes later the lights went off and I heard his door close. I took another
look through the scope before I put it in the house and DAMNED if his
headlights didn’t come on again.
I had a good couple hours. Even with the lights surrounding me I still spent some time with the two large
planets. I didn’t realize it then, but I was looking in the same area that the dwarf
planet Pluto was in. Hmm, how did I miss that? I saw an occultation of one of
Jupiter’s moons and I saw some great views of the ringed planet Saturn. Looking
back, it almost makes me forget about the lights.
Mars and the Moon on Mateo’s
first birthday
I took the telescope in and then watched
the Moon and Mars rise up out of the trees. It made me think of my grandson
Mateo. I was out observing the moon the day he was born, one year ago today! I
will always have that mental connection of him and the Moon! Happy Birthday Mateo!
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