[masraum]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

This is a great starter telescope. It's a newtonian on a dobson based. Otherwise known as a Dobsonian. It big enough to gather lots of light yet small enough to move around easily. It can be carried outside, set down and its ready to use. It probably comes with a 25mm eyepiece which will be great for viewing Orion and doing sky scanning.

https://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Classic-Dobsonians/Orion-SkyQuest-XT8-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/p/102005.uts?refineByCategoryId=13

Check your local craigslist, you may find one for 1/2 price. There's no tracking, you have to do that manually but its very easy to sweep the sky.

Let us know what you do.

That is a great starter scope and is what I previously had. If you want to spend less, there are smaller versions. The above is an 8", then below there is a 6" and a 4.5".
https://www.telescope.com/Orion-SkyQuest-XT6-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/p/102004.uts

https://www.telescope.com/Orion-SkyQuest-XT45-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/p/102009.uts

The reason that the size is important, if you don't know, is that astronomy is all about how much light you can gather and focus. The larger the objective lens, the more light you'll "catch" and the brighter the image. (vaguely/simplified) That's why long exposures are helpful in astrophotography, because a longer exposure allows you to capture light over time.

That's why telescopes are often called light buckets. Think of the light from stars, galaxies, nebulae, etc... as being like rain that's falling. If you were trying to catch rain in a bucket, you'd catch more rain in a very wide bucket than a very narrow bucket. (size of the objective lens). For astrophotography you can imagine sticking the bucket outside for 1 second (you'll catch some rain) or for 3 hours (you might fill your bucket).

Binoculars have the benefit of both eyes seeing stuff which your brain assembles into a better picture than if only one eye was looking. I think what I've heard, IIRC, is that looking with both eyes is like looking with an objective lens that's 1.4 times larger (like when Porsche first started using turbos on their race cars. There are even ways to convert telescopes to be views like binoculars, through both eyes. (There are various reasons why that's not very common)