Heard a neighbor say telescopes are useless in the city, made me rethink my whole setup

I was out in my driveway last Thursday trying to catch Saturn when my neighbor walked by and said why bother, the streetlights drown everything out anyway. It got me thinking about how Ive been fighting light pollution with filters and dark adaption apps instead of just driving 20 minutes to a darker spot. Took my scope to a county park last weekend and saw the Andromeda galaxy clear as day for the first time. Anyone else hit that wall where your backyard is convenient but the view is junk?

2 comments

2 Comments

adam_hernandez2d ago

That "why bother" comment hits different when you know what you're missing lol. Glad you got out to darker skies, that first clear Andromeda view is something else.

leow902d ago

Feel like yall are hyping this up a bit too much. It's a fuzzy smudge in a telescope, not a life changing event. I've seen Andromeda from my backyard with a cheap pair of binoculars and it looked pretty much the same as it did from a dark sky site. Cloudy haze either way. People act like you're gonna get some spiritual awakening from seeing a slightly less blurry blob of light.