What is the best first telescope to buy?
For a longer discussion, see the section on choosing a telescope. People have different needs and desires, so there may not be one correct answer. However, in my opinion (having gone through this myself), as a first telescope I would say that the best bang for your buck is an 8″ Newtonian on a Dobsonian mount. These can be purchased now for under $400, they are easy to set up and use, and they work well as both deep sky and planetary scopes. An aperture of 8″ is an ideal size. You can get 6″ scopes, but they are not much smaller, or 10″ scopes, which are significantly heavier and more expensive. One thing I have learned over the years is that as you get used to observing with your scope, you are able to see more and more, so in effect the aperture seems to get larger the more you use it.
