A couple weeks ago before Xmas I just felt like driving so I threw on a 10 hour playlist and drove into the middle of nowhere about 3 hours East, no idea where I was. There were absolutely no lights and I looked up and said shit I’ve never seen the sky like that. So it got me thinkin, I’m gonna buy a telescope. I found a great one after reading reviews and doing some research, a little over 400$. So anyone else on here do this sort of thing?
I bought an Orion XT8 Dobsonain a few years back and that has been well worth it for a “cheap” beginners scope. If you want portability, the Dobsonians are not for you. They are easy enough to break apart and travel with, it is still more of a pain than a typical tele. But if you want the biggest mirror for your buck, that’s where you want to be (dobsonian). Remember for the most part, the bigger the mirror, the more you see. I can see nebula, clusters, and even galaxies from my backyard near Sheridan and Niagara Falls Blvd which is a very badly light polluted area. Take it an hour out of the city and you will be astounded at what you can see. If you want to see Andromeda and other pinwheel galaxies with any detail, you need 6" or above.
The only upgrade I bought was a Telrad sight to help sort out where nearby objects were. I started with the big easy things, then once I knew my way around the sky, the more faint and distant objects became a priority. Right now, Orions belt and his sword, and associated cluster and Nebula are really prime viewing.
Here are some things you can do with it. Here is the Venus/Sun transit with a special filter. [video]https://youtu.be/IHxeOR8jE2s[/video]
Here is Jupiter. It seems fuzzy here because I couldn’t do a long exposure. Think about this in full HD with perfect focus. (a little wavy and shaky from atmospheric distortions.
Here you can see its main moons better with a wider field of view. 
And a little better shading
The famous double cluster near Cassiopeia, 
The moon right through the lens with weak magnification. 
Oh and you may want to get a dimmer lens or light reducer to view the moon - since viewing it straight through the telescope can really hurt your eyes.
This is the only pic I have of the tele itself.
Just to give you an idea of what you can see in the suburbs. I have plenty more pics but none here at work. Any questions give a shout, or if you want to stop by and see through it, shoot me a PM.
Away from light pollution the sky is amazing. Meteor showers are incredible on a clear night too.
Saw this on reddit yesterday
Looks like we are in the bald half of the US as far as light pollution is concerned.
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=3&lat=4231302&lon=-9861106&layers=B0TFFFFF
Nice info for sure. I’ll have to post my setup once I get it all figured out. And portability isn’t a concern for me. I’d rather do a few more minutes of work to get a greater image.
Don’t let the light pollution thing dissuade you. The bigger the mirror, the more you can see. remember my eye is now 8" with my 8" mirror. Minus the lens of course. Either way, you will see stuff yourself here in the polluted zone, all by yourself without just flipping the channels.
Just expect this…
and not this
Also, Knowing what you are looking at while sitting at the campfire really opens your eyes to a lot of things. Your sense of scale is really put to the test knowing what a lightyear really is. Just to look at that blob in the first pic in this post knowing that is the Andromeda galaxy. 2.5 MILLION light years away. This is what that galaxy looked like 2.5 million years ago you goddamned time traveler.
Seriously - as our senses are heightened by tech,we become closer to time travel, interstellar travel and, an actual realization of our quiet little place in the universe. There is now an estimated 400 BILLION stars in the milky way alone, and an infinite amount of galaxies out there (Google Hubble deep field). Tell me there isn’t some absolutely crazy shit living out there. Your stupid $500 tele is letting you see a teeny tiny fraction of that expanse first hand.
Man I have to start going to bed earlier haha.
I was messing around with our telescope and my dSLR the last supermoon. Never did figure out how get it perfectly in focus with the dSLR attached.
Something to look forward to: Spectacular collision of suns will create new star in night sky in 2022
Now 1800 years later the light from that collision will finally arrive on Earth creating a new star in the night sky - dubbed the ‘Boom Star - in an incredibly rare event which is usually only spotted through telescopes.
I shot this one. Just used the lens and didn’t wanna put together the telescope that’s in the box still.