Ian, the block, apart from the non council property where I set the scope up, is not flat. Anything from it. Has a 30º slope I reckon in the front. The back is far better, but the house just kills views...the block is very wide, but very shallow.
anyways, the palm tree...this looms over where I set the scope up...kills anything over in the West up to around 40º or so...
http://www.macro-images.com/web/house/palm_tree.jpg
then there's due South...2 killer street lights...yeah I know we all have to deal with it, doesn't mean I have to like it ;-)
http://www.macro-images.com/web/house/south.jpg
we ***** and complain about energy resources, yet as a species we (badly) justify having street lights on...sorry, but imho, they're not needed. I don't believe any argument about crime becoming higher if street lights went off. And there's still enough residential glow from house lighting so people can see where they're going. And anyone driving a car won't have any issues imho. They're simply not needed. They're an archaic architectural blemish that should have been banned a long time ago. They belong in the industrial ages as far as I'm concerned.
Ian - I'll try and set up the tripod/camera tonight with a 2 min exposure @ f2.8 on my Canon 20-35mm wide angle. It's pretty horrid ;-)
Dave
my main real gripe is the inability to set up a permanent observatory, even a small one...whilst I don't like the current surrounds, I know that there are worse off people than me on the forums. And having had 2 previous properties that were lights ahead (pun intended), it's even more frustrating...