Can you give me advice on buying a telescope?

I would like to learn a lot more about astronomy. I'm a beginner. Could you give me some advice on a reasonable telescope to buy?

It depends on (a) what kind of observing you are going to do and (b) what your budget is. If your aim is primarily to observe the Moon/planets, then get a refracting telescope. Otherwise, get a reflecting telescope. If you are going to be doing astrophotography, then get a Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. If your aim is to get the largest aperture for your money, then probably the best choice is the Dobsonian. Here are some more websites that give you some advice (this is not an exhaustive list; these are just the first three links that came up in Google):

http://www.my-spot.com/whatkind.htm

August 2005, Jagadheep D. Pandian (more by Jagadheep D. Pandian) (Like this Answer)

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