Dealing with Streetlights

by Carl O'Beirnes

As an Astronomer in Ireland it is difficult trying to cope with our bad weather but now we also have the added headache of light pollution. Take it from me there seems to be no escape from it.

As I live in a housing estate I had some streetlights which caused me a lot of problems. So I called Fingal County Council and told them my problem. Now for the sake of this article I can’t tell you what I told them because there were some little white lies told as to the reason for my objection, basically if I told them I was an astronomer who’s hobby was affected by the streetlights, I suspect nothing would have been done.

I was shocked to see that three days later a van pulled up outside my house and out stepped two county council lads who within two minutes had the lights sorted. I went out to say thanks to the lads who were nothing but polite and very helpful then I told them I was an amateur astronomer and we discussed the stars and planets and how light pollution had such an affect on astronomy. The lads informed me that if streetlights are causing a nuisance a person has a legal right to have the light deflected from their property. To finish up here are some photographs how the streetlight was altered to deflect its beam away from the back garden.

As these photographs show, the shield is positioned to prevent any light entering the back garden..

Thanks for reading,
Carl O'Beirnes