Hobby astronomy in a city

[Dratonia]

So, I have been a space enthusiast for years now, and I have recently been looking at getting a telescope to get into astronomy, but the only problem is that I live right outside of a decent sized city (215,000 people), and I am wondering if the light pollution from the city will ruin any shots I attempt to take. Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[billslugg]

There is a lot of observation can be done from the city, ambient light will have little affect on views of the Moon and planets. With proper filtering out of mercury and sodium lighting even views of diffuse nebula can be obtained. In 1985 I saw Halley's comet with naked eye from Times Square in NYC.

 

[Dratonia]

Thanks for the advice!

In 1985 I saw Halley's comet with naked eye from Times Square in NYC.

That is a really cool story!

 

[Helio]

There is a lot of observation can be done from the city, ambient light will have little affect on views of the Moon and planets. With proper filtering out of mercury and sodium lighting even views of diffuse nebula can be obtained. In 1985 I saw Halley's comet with naked eye from Times Square in NYC.

A good friend of mine and I traveled 60 miles south of the city to get dark skies and quality images of Halley's comet. As I was getting focus by using Saturn, suddenly I lost Saturn, as if I had bumped the scope. I struggled to get it back in view then looked-up and I was shocked to see that the entire sky had clouded-up.

But, we managed to get a nice defused flashlight image to impress family when we returned. [We did tell them it was fake.... eventually. ]

 

[billslugg]

I got good pictures of Halley on 3 occasions. I used a home made tracking device and an SLR camera with telephoto. One thing I learned was a sense of impending doom. I couldn't figure it out until I realized that the comet looked like a giant rock, on fire with a long tail. The tail showed just how fast it was travelling. The fact that it was motionless in the sky meant it was very far away. Being that far away it must be very large. Eventually it will get here and I'm toast!
it got no closer than 65 million miles from us in '85. Can you imagine 837 AD and its 3 million mile passage!