In The Spotlight (Jones 1). I live in a Bortle 8 zone and, according to some light pollution maps, crossing the street puts me in a Bortle 9 zone. In addition to the area's ambient light pollution, my small yard is surrounded by five new (and bright) LED streetlights and a traffic light for good measure. So, astrophotography is never easy, but for this project, it became even more absurd!
As I was setting up my rig to go after Jones 1, a relatively faint planetary nebula, workmen in a fleet of trucks pulled up in front of my house to work on the sewer line. I'm not sure what they were doing, but it often seemed to require the use of their trucks' headlights. Some equipment emitted dense streams of steam or smoke into the air, right beside my line of sight! And, to top it off, certain members of the work crew were carrying spotlights, presumably intended to illuminate the workspace, but in fact, inexplicably, aimed at my yard.
There was a man standing in the street who was literally shining a spotlight directly at my telescope!
I just had to laugh!
But since clear nights had been so rare, I would not be deterred, and my trusty C8 SCT did not wither under the pressure of the spotlight. I popped in a dual-narrowband L-eNhance filter and went about my business. (And, in fairness, conditions improved on subsequent nights I spent on this project.) The result will not win an APOD or an Astrobin IOTD, but I'm pleased that I was able to capture this faint target under what surely must be considered "Bortle 10" conditions.
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