Astronomy in suburbia?

[songsparrow]

How do those of you who are in suburbia cope with the light pollution when attempting to do some star gazing?  Where I live, a few major constellations are visible on a cloudless night.  Should we stick to star gazing with the naked eye?  Is it worth it to set up a telescope?  

[Occasionally]

It might be worthwhile to check into whether there's an amateur astronomy club near you, and where they meet. They usually have the inside track as to the best places for viewing. 

 

IMO, there's always something neat to see when you set up the telescope (or, in our case, when you pull out the binoculars.)

[quark]

Might still be worth it to set up a 'scope depending on how bad it is. Some days might be better than others. Look out for local astronomy clubs and ask if you can join a mailing list. I believe most will organize star parties. Some driving to areas with less light pollution will be involved. Club members usually set up the 'scopes or you may bring your own. Ask about rules e.g. you don't want to be parked in such a way that your headlights are going to be flashing at the star gazing area.

[Occasionally]

Following b/c we have the same issue. Between the trees and the streetlight, we don't get much of a view, and all the open spaces/parks close at sunset.

 

Sometimes local clubs have permission to set up after dark. That's what happens here.

[angelmama1209]

we drove about an hour away to watch the meteor shower. otherwise we just see what we can see. we were able to see saturn when it was close, but not its rings.

[Arcadia]

The local astronomy clubs pair up with the state parks to organize star parties.  The observatories also host star parties. So far we have very good experiences with these star parties.

[2_girls_mommy]

We can't even see much more w/the telescope in our city.  But we try to make up for it by doing our planetarium which does "Tonight's sky" showing what we should be seeing, and by using the Star chart app that we can hold up to the sky and it shows us what is there.

[dbmamaz]

our science museum had biweekly planetarium shows.  I really miss the dark.

 

fwiw, Neil DeGrasse Tyson said when he was a kid in NYC, his parents always took him to the planetarium.  The first time he was out in the country and saw the stars, he said "It looks just like the planetarium!"  And he runs the planetarium now, so obviously it didnt impair him.

[Kalmia]

Console yourself with the fact that the major constellations you can see are much easier to identify without all those pesky other stars getting in the way! LOL. It is so much easier to teach the major constellations to children here, 60 mi from NYC, than at my parents house in dark sky Maine. 

 

Of course, once you are done with the ones you can see and studying the moon then you need to find the astronomy club or planetarium.

 

The History Channel DVD series: The Universe is very good too.

[marlowefamily]

There are internet telescope sites that will allow you to virtually rent a larger telescope than you'd never normally be able to afford for an hour or two....it's convenient that they're all setup and all you need to provide are star coordinates.....you get ccd output and downaloadable files for further analysis. Some of these sites have monthly plans for those on a budget.  I think there are a good number amateur astronomers using these scopes these for real research.  This seems to be the only practical response for families in urban areas that want to do any true astronomy, short of making time every few weekends to drive a few hours to the desert or mountains for an overnight camp out.

[duckens]

 

Occasionally recommends:

It might be worthwhile to check into whether there's an amateur astronomy club near you, and where they meet. They usually have the inside track as to the best places for viewing.

 

If you go this route and want to be part of group viewing, be sure to ask the group's schedule.

 

Our local group has a boring business meeting first (30+ minutes).  Then a (sometimes obscure) informational topic (30+ minutes).  Then they may or may not go out for viewing, depending upon the weather.

 

If we know the viewing won't start until past 8, it is not productive for us to sit with a 5yo for more than an hour before being told, "The clouds are starting to move in. No viewing tonight."

 

If we ever attend their events in the future, we will go an hour late, and crash the end of the meeting before stargazing.

 

I know they want to grow their group by having people attend the meeting, but being star-gazing friendly for the next generation will do the most to grow their group long-term.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

ha ha ha ha my husband can soooo relate to this-we live in the city and last year he splurged on 2 fantastic telescopes-the street lights make him sooo crazy LOL and a few times a week he threatens to chop down all the huge trees in all the yards around us LOL.....he even tried setting up a "blind" but didn't work.....