Despite the fact it was nearly full Moon, there was a small gathering at a friend’s house last night to watch the Perseid meteor shower. The weather forecast was lousy but we decided to get together and have a barbecue anyway. The clouds showed little sign of shifting, with only the occasional sucker hole showing tantalising glimpses of the stars beyond.

This garden, belonging to fellow VAS member and Isle of Wight Star Party organiser Stephen, is in an enviable spot on the south coast of the Isle of Wight and in a blue zone, with views over the sea and an unobstructed southern horizon. It’s darker than the garden at home and, as it has that unobstructed view of the south I am going to be doing some observing there on occasion with the 8″ (I am not sure my 18″ will fit into my little Citroen C3). On a Moonless night, the only form of light pollution is St. Catherine’s Lighthouse, whose beam sweeps the hillside above the garden every few seconds, but it doesn’t actually interfere with night vision as the beam is blocked by trees to the west. An observer in the garden is also below the beam. There are, of course, also large ships passing on their way to and from the port of Southampton but they don’t hang around, fortunately.

Despite the rubbish observing conditions we had a good time and were treated to a spectacular view of the Moon reflecting off the sea as it shone through breaks in the clouds, and even through the clouds when they thinned enough. We didn’t see a single meteor but had a nice time, nonetheless.

Driving home around midnight, I couldn’t help noticing the sheer amount of streetlights and (in)security lights everywhere. There’s absolutely no need for these lights in rural areas but there are so many of them, it’s depressing. It’s also depressing how most members of the public seem to need the ‘blanket and teddy bear’ (as my friend Ted Saker puts it) of outdoor lighting so when the council come to renew the lights, as they’re supposed to do in the next few years, you can bet they won’t be actually thinning the damn things out a bit. However, the new ones are supposed to be cut-off fixtures, so the overall light pollution should be reduced quite significantly.
On a related note, while watching the TV news coverage of the riots, mayhem and looting in England’s major cities last week, I couldn’t help noticing that the crimes were all carried out in the full glare of the street lights! That’s another nail in the coffin of the mantra ‘lights deter crime’, I hope.

It’s another cloudy Moon-ridden night tonight but what a spectacular sunset there was. I don’t like clouds, at all, but they do provide some drama.