Best Posts in Thread: Lunacy

Sharing some of my favorite cosmic images from last week.

 

You just need to get a little ways from Dmgte to get reasonably dark skies. Problem is the street lamps and house lighting. The unshielded street lamps are my biggest issue, as I always have to play with my white balance to get a decent image. Light pollution is not a big deal if you're looking at the Moon and planets. I've taken a lot of great shots at night from the Boulevard looking out across Tanjon Straight. I've also captured the Milky Way from the shoreline in Bacong:

 

If your kids are socializing with the neighbours instead of being glued to their Facebook account, you are a very lucky Dad.
Most of these images were taken with my Canon mirrorless camera using various lenses.
The high magnification pictures were shot thru binoculars or a small scope that I brought with me from the US.
Astronomy is still considered a Black Art here, so you will have a very difficult time finding any kind of gear locally.
Your best option is to order a small scope on-line (Amazon, eBay, etc.).
You want a 80mm refractor with a short focal length (<500mm) that you can mount on a photo tripod. That will give you good views of the Moon and Planets at high mag, and nice wide starfield views at low mag (and would make a great spotting scope). Also, easy to carry and transport.
If you find something, I would be happy to give you my recommendations.