Dark sky friendly LED/lights - advice please.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Startrek

The colour rendering index CRI is what you look for in LED lamps
A CRI between 85 to 90 is technically equivalent to natural daylight in the light spectrum
Colour temperature in Kelvin K is what our eyes perceive to be a warmer colour ( red) or a cooler colour (blue )
Incandescent lamps were phased out by the Australian government a number of years ago , although you can still buy them at some retailer ??
The answer to your dilemma, turn off your lights and wear a red led head set with switch to operate everything

Thanks Martin

Yes the turn off and have local/head red lights only is obviously the best approach but this soon to be renovated dwelling will be occupied and not by me, so I need to have mediation in place to cover the potential night antics of non astronomers being so nearby

So a lower Kelvin rating will be a warmer white I take it..?

Mike

[xelasnave]

Mike show them a photo of you pulling a truck and tell the new occupant you do astronomy to keep your aggression under control and how you hate light.
Or tell them if they leave any lights on you can't help singing.
But I am such the small amount of light from one cabin won't cause any problems.
Good luck.
Alex

[Sunfish (Ray)]

Yep . Lower number equals a spectral profile with more infrared I think. So 3000 warm like incandescent, 6000 cool like daylight or old school flouro office tubes.

Lamp makers publish the light performance.

This is the rating of the Lamp or bulb, not the light fitting or lamp holder although with lower cost LED they can be one unit and non replacable lamps.

But there are many frequencies involved and I don’t know whether Warmer would neccessarily be better and the answer might be , it depends , on many other variables.

Lower wattage also and non reflective colours and surfaces with directional shielding may be even more important . Paint it black or at least dark and flat.

Interesting thought that fire light may allow better night vision.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Thanks Martin

Yes the turn off and have local/head red lights only is obviously the best approach but this soon to be renovated dwelling will be occupied and not by me, so I need to have mediation in place to cover the potential night antics of non astronomers being so nearby

So a lower Kelvin rating will be a warmer white I take it..?

Mike

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Mike show them a photo of you pulling a truck and tell the new occupant you do astronomy to keep your aggression under control and how you hate light.
Or tell them if they leave any lights on you can't help singing.
But I am such the small amount of light from one cabin won't cause any problems.
Good luck.
Alex

Ummm...yeeeah, problemo is, I can no longer pull trucks, well not big ones anyway

Being in the position to direct initial design and construction should produce a good result

Originally Posted by Sunfish

Yep . Lower number equals a spectral profile with more infrared I think. So 3000 warm like incandescent, 6000 cool like daylight or old school flouro office tubes.

Lamp makers publish the light performance.

This is the rating of the Lamp or bulb, not the light fitting or lamp holder although with lower cost LED they can be one unit and non replacable lamps.

But there are many frequencies involved and I don’t know whether Warmer would neccessarily be better and the answer might be , it depends , on many other variables.

Lower wattage also and non reflective colours and surfaces with directional shielding may be even more important . Paint it black or at least dark and flat.

Interesting thought that fire light may allow better night vision.

All good feedback, thanks Shielding will feature strongly.

Mike

[xelasnave]

Mike as we all know folk think I am crazy but my idea (And The Hubble) of extending you tube in effect with a baffled dew tube helps with stray light..even star light.
(Have a look at how Hubble is set up and how far the baffled tube extends) really does help..I may be crazy but the folk who designed Hubble hopefully are not.
The main thing as you say is being involved...is it a rental? If so rent it yourself.
Alex

[gregbradley]

Well I am going to be different here.

I would mainly not want those outside, motion detector type lights that are very bright.

But I doubt a few lights in a nearby cabin will affect your astro photos.

I used to be hot on lights but at home if a car pulls up with lights on or if the outside light was left on etc it does not seem to make any difference to my images.

What the real problem is with light pollution is the general city glow that lights up the sky and forms a light dome. Not so much a nearby room. My home observatory has a small house next to it that was being occupied. Made no difference to images. Just not direct light shining onto the scope area.

Light leaking out between curtains and windows that lights up the ground is more an issue when doing a nightscape but that it not what you usually do there.

I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Greg.

[cwjohn (Chris)]

I used arlec strip lighting from Bunnings. 5m costs around $60. I set it to red and can control the intensity from my mobile phone. Works great in the observatory.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Well I am going to be different here.

I would mainly not want those outside, motion detector type lights that are very bright.

But I doubt a few lights in a nearby cabin will affect your astro photos.

I used to be hot on lights but at home if a car pulls up with lights on or if the outside light was left on etc it does not seem to make any difference to my images.

What the real problem is with light pollution is the general city glow that lights up the sky and forms a light dome. Not so much a nearby room. My home observatory has a small house next to it that was being occupied. Made no difference to images. Just not direct light shining onto the scope area.

Light leaking out between curtains and windows that lights up the ground is more an issue when doing a nightscape but that it not what you usually do there.

I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Greg.

All quite true Greg Thing is, I like to do visual observing sometimes too, so while preventing sustained washes of light across the observatory is probably all that is required to prevent issues while I'm imaging inside a protective dome, making sure DOH!!! moments dont occur while enjoying the dark sky environment outside, is the goal too

Mike

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by cwjohn

I used arlec strip lighting from Bunnings. 5m costs around $60. I set it to red and can control the intensity from my mobile phone. Works great in the observatory.

Cheers Chris...I have a flexable roll of Red tube lighting sitting in a box somewhere actually...

Mike