Nerds of this forum. Do you know anything about telescopes?

[BananaKing]

So I am thinking of buying a telescope. But im in a city and on a huge budget

So question 1, is it worth it since I am in a city? Can I still see stuff beyond the light pollution?

Are cheap telescopes worth it? Or should I wait till I have a better budget?

[nnodley]

I don't know much but there are plenty of light pollution filters you can get for telescopes.  I've never tried any though and don't live in a city so i wouldn't know anyway.

But i'd look into some of them for the specific telescope you are looking at.

Share your universe with our observation stations (vaonis.com)

This company has some really cool ones that are easy plug and play and can be controlled on an app and can take long exposure shots.  Not sure if any are the kind where you can look through the lens yourself.

And they are quite expensive. Especially the Stellina model

[Legend]

Are you wanting to take pictures or look at stuff directly with your eyes?

I have these binoculars that are great for both increasing zoom and brightness. I tend to use them more than my telescope since it's so much easier to just look up and find things. Light pollution can suck though if you're trying to see anything really faint like a galaxy or the recent comet. They're still cool to see with your own eyes, but they just look like faint glows.

I'm needing to buy a new mount for my telescope, or just a new telescope in general. I really want a high quality tracker that can adjust to the Earth's rotation so I don't have to keep awkwardly readjusting it every 30 seconds.

[BananaKing]

Are you wanting to take pictures or look at stuff directly with your eyes?

I have these binoculars that are great for both increasing zoom and brightness. I tend to use them more than my telescope since it's so much easier to just look up and find things. Light pollution can suck though if you're trying to see anything really faint like a galaxy or the recent comet. They're still cool to see with your own eyes, but they just look like faint glows.

I'm needing to buy a new mount for my telescope, or just a new telescope in general. I really want a high quality tracker that can adjust to the Earth's rotation so I don't have to keep awkwardly readjusting it every 30 seconds.

It would be nice to take pictures too, but not necessarily i suppose.

But I want to be able to see planets and galaxy like Andromeda. I also want to be able to see constellation. I want to to be able to learn astronomy and see it for myself Basically

[Legend]

It would be nice to take pictures too, but not necessarily i suppose.

But I want to be able to see planets and galaxy like Andromeda. I also want to be able to see constellation. I want to to be able to learn astronomy and see it for myself Basically

This is not my picture, but it's about what saturn feels like through my telescope.

[the-pi-guy]

I always wanted a telescope. But I think I would need to spend a lot of money to get the quality I would actually want.

[BananaKing]

I always wanted a telescope. But I think I would need to spend a lot of money to get the quality I would actually want.

I think for the quality me, you and legend would want we would have to spend thousands haha

This is not my picture, but it's about what saturn feels like through my telescope.

Thats not bad at all. Would it be visible like that in the city?

I don't know much but there are plenty of light pollution filters you can get for telescopes.  I've never tried any though and don't live in a city so i wouldn't know anyway.

But i'd look into some of them for the specific telescope you are looking at.

Share your universe with our observation stations (vaonis.com)

This company has some really cool ones that are easy plug and play and can be controlled on an app and can take long exposure shots.  Not sure if any are the kind where you can look through the lens yourself.

And they are quite expensive. Especially the Stellina model

The shots they have look amazing. But I cant justify a purchase like that right off the bat. If perhaps this hobby grows id buy one like this. But right now im looking for something really cheap but alright quality to try get into all this more

But thanks for the link, because they are really cool

[Legend]

Thats not bad at all. Would it be visible like that in the city?

On this map Light Pollution Map - DarkSiteFinder.com

I'm on the border between red and gray so that's pretty bad light pollution according to them, but your own night vision matters a lot too. I can easily see hundreds of stars every night yet my mom can only see a dozen.


I don't know what's around you, but it's also really fun to get out of the city and find really dark places. Even without a telescope or binoculars it's amazing to just look up and see millions of stars.

[BananaKing]

On this map Light Pollution Map - DarkSiteFinder.com

I'm on the border between red and gray so that's pretty bad light pollution according to them, but your own night vision matters a lot too. I can easily see hundreds of stars every night yet my mom can only see a dozen.


I don't know what's around you, but it's also really fun to get out of the city and find really dark places. Even without a telescope or binoculars it's amazing to just look up and see millions of stars.

shame im in the red one too. But I live right next to a very wide river at the moment, and the other side there aren't much lights/buildings, so I can see some stars outside on a clear night. Not sure how long I will stay here though.

@bolded: absolutely, I went on a road trip in Scotland once, and was in an area where there were barely people living around. The night sky was absolutely amazing, I could even see the milky way, which I've always wanted to see.