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Equipment Dark Site Light Pollution
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Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
Hi everyone,

I've visited some very dark sites a few times in the last few years. These have been located at provincial parks in Canada. Unfortunately though, not everyone is astronomy-minded. Although the sky glow at these sites were minimal, there was still the glare of outdoor light fixtures and motorhome lights left on all night to contend with, compromising dark adaptation and therefore the view. As a possible solution for future visits, I was thinking of buying an outdoor privacy screen to block the glare from local light sources. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Steven
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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
You probably already have one, it's called a lens shade or dew shade. All you're concerned about is keeping that light out of your optical train. Obviously, You can't do anything about what these light sources are putting into the sky.
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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Poles + Tarp. Simple but effective. Oh, how much I hate those lights…
Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
Tony Gondola:
You probably already have one, it's called a lens shade or dew shade. All you're concerned about is keeping that light out of your optical train. Obviously, You can't do anything about what these light sources are putting into the sky.

Thanks for your reply. I have four decades of observing experience and I used to sell telescopes in retail. I know what those are. Those don't help when you aren't looking through the eyepiece and are looking at star charts.
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Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
andrea tasselli:
Poles + Tarp. Simple but effective. Oh, how much I hate those lights...

Yes, I was thinking about something like that.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
Steven Fanutti:
Tony Gondola:
You probably already have one, it's called a lens shade or dew shade. All you're concerned about is keeping that light out of your optical train. Obviously, You can't do anything about what these light sources are putting into the sky.

I have four decades of observing experience and I used to sell telescopes in retail. I know what those are. Those don't help when you aren't looking through the eyepiece and looking at star charts.

Yeah, I'm old too ;-)
Do you usually tent camp or RV?
Steven Fanutti avatar
Steven Fanutti avatar
Tony Gondola:
Do you usually tent camp or RV?


Tent camp. I'm "old school" as I prefer visual observing. When I sold telescopes 20 years ago, visual was what most people were doing and astrophotography as kind of a more secondary hobby. Now, in my opinion, it's the reverse. I do mostly solar observing now. But when you travel half way across Canada and are lucky enough to get to a dark site, to have it compromised by unshielded light fixtures is really annoying. From Prince Edward Island, I was able to see the brightest part of the Veil Nebula without a filter through my 4-inch refractor. With an OIII filter, very easy. I took advantage of the dark skies to do some wide field Milky Way imaging where thankfully, the local fixtures were not problematic for the camera. The problem was when I tried to enjoy the simple experience of just looking up. I had to put one hand in front of the glare to enjoy the view. But still, it's hard to get fully dark adapted. Through the eyepiece, the rubber eyecup does a good job of blocking glare.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
The simplest way would be to make a frame with PC pipe and elbows and blackout cloth. If it were for me, I'd design it so a lawn lounge chair would fit inside. Do it that way and it doesn't need to be very tall. The cloth could be simple sewn loop edges that fit over the tubes. I'm sure there are commercial things out there but this would eb simple and cheap to put together yourself. Lay back and all you would see is dark sky.
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Alan Brunelle avatar
Alan Brunelle avatar
I think the simple ideas are the best.  Making it lightweight and just high enough to block the light when seated so you can view the sky when seated. 

If the air transparency is high, free of suspended particles, fog, pollen, dust, then those local lights should not affect the Bortle rating much, if at all.  

If you see an effect by those lights, then transparency at some lower part of the atmosphere, maybe a few hundred feet above ground is not good.  Only solution then is to move the rig.