The elusive Phantom Galaxy on a night with a full moon in a Bortle 8? Why not? It could have been worse... My neighbors behind our house had a wedding (I believe?) a few days before I set out to capture this beautiful galaxy in Pisces, and installed some hefty flood lights for the reception in their back yard! While I'm positive that the lights worked well for the party, they continued to come on every night and weren't doing much for my photos lol. My wife suggested that I leave them a note on their fence since they live in a gated community and I was unable to go ring their doorbell. I was a bit nervous doing that (what if they get angry and retaliate with strobe or spot lights!?!?) but I finally got up the courage and handwrote them a letter describing my trade and delicately requesting that they turn their lights off unless they are out enjoying the evening. It worked! A few days later I wanted to thank them for understanding, so I set a bottle of wine on their fence along with a thank you note
They have been super nice ever since and I've had decently dark skies for the most part. Secretly I'm hoping my other neighbors catch on... Dark skies for a bottle of wine sounds like a good deal to me!
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