eleanor gates and this is her license plate. >> that is the number of astrid named after me. eleanor. >> reporter: she has lived in the paradises since 1998. there is trouble in paradise. every time the sun sinks slowly in the west, thousands of sodium and l.e.d. lights cast a glow into the skies of the world's first mountain observatory. this was not what james had in mind. >> back when the observatory was founded, this was a fantastic site for an observatory. >> that was when san jose had 5000 people. now, it has 1 million. the telescope is being blinded by the lights. >> reporter: so is dr. gates lifelong fascination with black holes. >> as a young child, i remember being super intrigued about these things called black holes. how did they get so big so early in the history of the universe? we don't really know the answer to that. >> reporter: they keep busy up here every night. >> discovering new planets around other stars, supernovae, galaxies could be extraterrestrial life using lasers to communicate or it could be new astral is open -- astrophysical phenomenon we never d

eleanor gates, and this is her license plate. >> that is the number of the asteroid named after me! >> reporter: she has lived in this astronomer's paradise since 1998. but there is trouble in paradise. every time the sun sinks slowly in the west, thousands of sodium and l.e.d. lights cast a glow into the skies of the world's first mountain observatory. this was not what was in mind. >> back when the observatory was founded, this was a fantastic site for observatory. >> reporter: that was when san jose had 500,000 people. now it has 1 million. so they are being blinded by light. >> even as a young child i remember being super intrigued by these things in science shows called black holes. how did they get so big so early in the history of the universe? we don't really know the answer to that yet. >> reporter: so, they keep busy up here every night. >> discovering new planets around other stars or new supernovas and other galaxies. it could be extraterrestrial life using lasers to communicate or could be new astrophysical phenomena we have never dreamed of. >> reporter: whatever it is