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I also live in a light polluted area too, near a big City. And I decided to stay there instead of going out for darker skies. Under the balance I have better results than staying out in the nowhere (and more social contact). So this is what you can call the opposite of portability (and order):





Today I started to build me a home on the balcony for my gear so I do not have to spent so much time for the rig up each time....




I think a good! refractor, not too much focal length (I use 480 mm) could be a good option for you. It behaves like a normal lens, no strange stuff .
...

Certainly the Big Orion Nebula M45 (very bright), M33, the 2nd big galaxy in our universe and the Plejades (M45). Go ahead!

Regards
Pete

Hi Grey Area, sorry if I sounded harsh. Online commentary can be seemingly terse.

But I mention an astronomy shop because you can see first hand the difference in quality of the products - of course you'll need a good shop that doesn't give you a sales job. You'll get a feeling for the capability of different levels of scope. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that will say my scope is a toy (Celestron 5se) but its getting me into astrophotography nicely. It has very good optics and can do all the things required for guided imaging, just not as well as one twice its price.

The thing that is most often overlooked is mount stability. Thats what is heavily lacking in the lower cost scope assemblies even though they look substantial. Its the single most important thing for astrophotography - except maybe tracking. People get excellent images using small scopes like 80mm refractors but they have them mounted on a strong and relatively expensive mounts.

Since you are a Pentaxian, you might first want to see how much you can do with Astrotracer and a say a 300mm lens on a tripod. There's a lot of awesome nebula to photograph with this combination.

Stone G.

Wow. Just. Wow. Possibly the most comprehensive thread answer to a noob question, ever. Many thanks. I now have targets to aspire to.

The pricing is...bearable. That KDS mount sounds like for me it would be more trouble than it's worth (the friction whatnow? Seriously at some point you really lost me there...like some arcane mechanic telling me the whangdoodle has totally snapped along it's multiphasic axis and taken out the biaxial counterweighted godsprocket)

All this is a plan for the future. I'm off to a dark sky area for Christmas with my K3-ii, a better lens for lightgathering than I had before (Pentax f1:1.4 50mm), a new zoom lens (likely to be rubbish..4:5.6 70-300mm) and knowledge of the 39 secret individual steps required to actually get the Astrotracer unit to function. All that, and I've managed to miss the full moon this time. Watching the forecast anxiously...clear skies are common where I'm going, but at this time of year, not guaranteed...

You weren't that terse...but I don't know any telescope shops so I can't make the disctinction between one that will sell me what I need and one that will just realise (quite rightly) that they have a mug on their hands and decide to simply empty my bank account.

I have a 300mm zoom and the astrotracer...and a sighting laser that fits on my hotshoe, so I'm hoping I'm "Orion Nebula Ready"...maybe Andromed ready too if I'm lucky...need to check how high in the sky the beggar will be, it always seems too low and thus too close to the remaining light pollution to capture.

I know it's SUPPOSED to be visible to the naked eye, but I don't think I've been anywhere dark enough to see it. My best light gathering lens is a f1.4 50mm...any chance of catching it with that?

Hi
There's a telescope shop not too far from you in birstall batley
And Lee will not sell you anything that you don't need or want

This is perfect - I made the mistake of selling my 60-250 just before discovering that my camera works with astrotracer! - Good luck

You should be able to catch andromeda.

This is what I catched with the K-1 and FA 250-600, at 600mm, f6.3, 30s ISO6400 with astrotracer
One single exposure (no stacking). Andromeda was almost filling the frame like in this photo on the FF.
I was about 1h30 from the big city like Montreal...

Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) | Flickr



Galaxie d'Andromède / Andromeda Galaxy (M31, NGC 224) by Sylvain Cote, sur Flickr

Andromeda and the Orion Nebula are good for first practice and all you need is your Astrotracer and some lens > 100 mm for trying. They were my first objects when I became addicted to this stuff in end of 2014. This is the result 5th night with M31, shot with K-5, Astrotracer and an antique Pentax-M 135 F3.5 I had bought on Ebay for some Euros.




And this is the Orion Nebula (crop) some weeks later with the same setup. So for the start it is not much you need to get results - just endurance and warm clothes.

Here is a link to a light pollution map.

Light pollution map

Looks like you would need to travel North a bit, but still, the lights from the metropolitan areas will limit seeing.

Telescopes can't resolve the effects of light pollution. The light is reflecting off of dust and moisture in the atmosphere. Even the best telescope made cannot get a better view of the heavens through it. I think that is why observatories are placed on remote mountain tops, far from the lights of the cities and the dirty air.

As amateurs, it is still possible to mitigate the challenges of light pollution though. Put together a tripod and scope setup that is relatively portable. Go as far from the city as you can. Avoid observing near the horizon, there is more atmosphere to sight through. Also avoid viewing in the direction of the city lights.

As far as resolution goes, the current optics of telescopes are pretty good. Stick with the name brands. And be prepared to spend a few bucks.

Light pollution filters will help, yet one has to be "crafty" to use them w/PENTAX, as there really isn't an "off the shelf" solution like w/ Canikon's, where there are "clip in" filters available. The only lens that I have that will work on my modded Canon T1i body w/a clip in filter, is a 180mm f/2.8 (Gold Band) Nikon. I have an adapter to use some of my PENTAX glass on the Canon body, yet the DOF tab/tang on them won't permit using the clip in filter. So the work around is to tape a filter to the front of the lens, then they can be used w/ light pollution filters. (These are older SMC style glass, manual focus goodness from the past that I have held onto...and glad I did.)

When using the PENTAX bodies with an actual telescope, then the T-adapter & 2" nose piece (for the focuser) is used. Then the filter can be used on the front of that adapter, allowing LP filtration.

The only way I can think of to use LP filters w/"newer" glass, would be to use step down rings in order to get the filter attached to the front of the glass. Doing this will effectively stop down a 72mm f/2 -or- f/2.8 lens...thus requiring longer exposure times (with the lens "wide open"), & more than likely would need formal "guiding" to avoid trails.

Thanks, may have a wander...

THanks als ofor the "this is what's possible" images...gives me a target at least...and hopefully in December the light pollution won't be such an issue as I'm off to less populated areas...