The problem with light-pollution blockers like that is that the air molecules themselves, above your backyard and everywhere in the vicinity, are lit up. Keeping the direct light off will help a little, but you can't block ambient light, unfortunately. There's no substitute for truly dark skies. I used to believe earnest, intelligent people could put together a statewide light-pollution ordinance but frankly now I don't think it would pass. People need to know that dark nights are a tremendous resource that belong to us all. -- Joe ________________________________ From: Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, September 4, 2011 8:16 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet Garradd You could show him the comet and then as your doing it put up two of these http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=556 (I've built 15 of them for blocking ambient light in the backyard) . . . when he asks what they are for just say to block that light on your driveway . . . On Sun, Sep 4, 2011 at 7:55 PM, Raeburn Kennard <rkennard@kmclaw.com> wrote:
I was fascinated by the range of comments sparked by my reported sighting of Comet Garradd. "Go to" vs. "Push to." Exact coordinates. Messier-era technology. Identifying the cute little cluster of stars surrounding the comet on Friday night as the "coathanger asterism." That was a new one for me!
I enjoy the diversity of interests and skill levels on this list. For any entry-level star searchers like myself, you don't have to be intimidated by the pros. My rig is all low-tech and manual. (Patrick Wiggins had to show me how to focus the eye piece tube when I first got it - he was too generous and polite to laugh at me.) So, Friday night I googled the comet and found a site with a map of the sky showing where the comet would be each night through September: http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf Then, with binoculars and my Telrad I pointed my scope in the general direction indicated, "a little bit left of Sagitta," and carefully pushed the scope up and down across that part of the sky until I spotted the comet - the faint bluish-green smudge that didn't look like anything else I was seeing. If I can do it, anyone can do it! Enjoy the stars at whatever level you are, and grow at your own pace. Then share them with someone even less well-informed and bask in their praise as they declare you to be a genius! What a great hobby!
Do you think if I showed the comet to my neighbor he might get the idea all on his own to install a kill switch on his decorative driveway lamp? It's worth a try.
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-- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php