Nearly lost my telescope to a neighbor's security light at a star party in Tucson last fall

Some guy left his motion floodlight on and it ruined everyone's dark adaptation for 20 minutes, so now I always bring a lens cap and scout the setup area for light pollution sources before I even take my tripod out, has anyone else had their whole night wrecked by something like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

miaa416d ago

Rember reading a forum thread where someone built a portable dark box out of black fabric and PVC pipes to block out stray light during observing sessions, thought that was genius until I realized a neighbor's floodlight can still mess up your scopes optics if it catches the lens. Had a similar thing happen at a park where a car's headlights swept across our setup every few minutes, ruined an hour of deep sky imaging. Now I check the whole area for any motion sensors or automatic lights before I unpack anything, and I keep a red flashlight handy for quick adjustments. Its crazy how one little light source can undo all that time spent adapting your eyes to the dark. Ever try using a dew shield with a light blocker attachment, or does it not help enough with those floodlights?

baker.simon4d ago

Seems like a lot of fuss over a few car headlights, most nights the sky is plenty dark without all that gear.