Vent: My neighbor’s new floodlight wrecked my night sky

I was out last Tuesday trying to spot Saturn through my 8-inch Dobsonian and bam, this huge LED floodlight next door turned on, totally washing out everything dim. The guy said he put it up to scare away raccoons, but now I can barely see anything past magnitude 3 stars from my own yard. Anyone else deal with a neighbor’s light ruining their view and find a way to talk to them about it without starting a fight?

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abby_robinson583mo ago

Friend of mine had this same thing happen. Tried talking to the guy about angling the light down, neighbor got real defensive and said his wife was scared of the dark. Ended up planting a row of tall arborvitaes on his side of the property line, took a couple years but now it blocks most of the glare.

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terry_barnes3mo ago

Oh man, "huge LED floodlight... totally washing out everything dim" - that hit way too close to home lol. Last summer my neighbor put up one of those motion sensor monsters right on the fence line between our yards, and I swear I can't even see the Pleiades anymore without it blinding me first. I tried asking him nicely if he could maybe angle it down a bit, but he just said he needed it for "security" and gave me this look like I was being the crazy one. Ended up buying a tall roll of shade cloth from the hardware store and rigging it up as a temporary screen on that side of my observing spot, not pretty but it actually helps a little. I feel your pain though, it really sucks when your own backyard becomes useless for stargazing over something like that.

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