Ever Growing Light Pollution

[solissydney]

And SOLIS can't help wondering where the support from thousands of amateur astronomers is?
w: solis.asn.au
Fighting for a dark sky since 1997



Urban light pollution: why we're all living with permanent 'mini jetlag' http://gu.com/p/42tgb?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[glend]

Frankly it's a hopeless battle, its seen as a badge of progress. Local government councils replace street lights with bright LED broadspectrum bulbs in order to reduce their power bills. Cities like Sydney hold light festivals where buildins are painted with light as obhects of art. Bridges, riads, intersections, roundabouts, all attract safety lighting. Neighbors install security lighting. Tennis courts, netball courts, football fields, shopping centres, all want floodlit expanses tgat reflect back into the sky. Looking at the light pollution map for my area I can see the annual creep of ever more light into the boundaries of my green area. Councils never seem to have a light pollution policy, or officer that can even discuss this 'non-issue'. The best you can get from them is a link to the old 1997 Australian Standard for outdoor lighting, never amended in almost twenty years.
What can you do? Fight light polluting local developments and your branded a nutter, I know its happened to me. Consider moving if you can to escape the invasion, but unless you can afford to, and are at a place in your life that permits getting out of cities, your going to be stuck with it getting worse. I feel for the people in Sydney who never get a visual astronomy experience. Even narrow band imagers, those guys photographing things impossible to see from their yards, are doomed thanks to broad spectrum LED street lights.
You can pack up your gear and visit a dark site, do it every new moon you can, its the only way to use your equipment to its full potential.

[Somnium]

this is what drove me to ditch Sydney for observing and set up a remote observatory. it is a shame that it comes to that, there is no better feeling than finding a galaxy in your EP after looking for 10 mins, and that is becoming harder to do