Question about picking a telescope for city skies

I finally saved up $300 for my first real telescope. I was stuck between a 4 inch reflector and a 5 inch tabletop Dobsonian. My backyard in downtown Chicago has terrible light pollution, so I went with the Dobsonian for the bigger aperture. First night out I spotted Jupiter and three of its moons, but the streetlights washed out everything else. I bought a cheap moon filter for $15 last week and it helped a ton with lunar shots. Has anyone else dealt with picking a scope for bright city conditions?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_ellis18d ago

Grabbed a 6 inch Dob for my own backyard setup a couple years back and honestly the moon filter was a game changer for me too. I also picked up a cheap UHC filter for $25 and it helped cut through some of the streetlight glow to show the Orion Nebula as a faint smudge with detail on a clear night. Drove out to a dark parking lot on the edge of town once and that scope went from barely seeing Jupiter's bands to spotting its Great Red Spot and Saturn's rings sharp as hell. Stick with the Dob and maybe try a light pollution filter next, it won't fix everything but it'll let you pull out a few more deep sky objects from the mess.

thomas27524d agoMost Upvoted

City light pollution is brutal, feeling your pain on that. Moon filter was a smart grab, makes the whole experience way less frustrating.

thomas.tyler24d ago

Yeah man 5 inch Dob was the right call for sure. That extra inch of aperture makes a real difference in the soup.