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The recommendations about binoculars are definitely worth considering.

However, if you're ready for the telescope, my advice is to spend as much money as your budget has on getting the biggest aperture you can buy.

More light = more better.

Auto-tracking is nice, but learning how to find objects in the night sky is a fun and worthy exercise, and if you have a big aperture you'll actually be able to see the things your telescope points to.

A few things to keep in mind:

* You're not going to see DSOs (Deep Sky Objects, like nebulae and galaxies) from the middle of a major urban area. You need access to a dark site. (Search for "light pollution map") Planets are easy to see from anywhere, cities included (though the viewing is always better the darker the sky is).

* Many objects in the night sky will look like little fuzzy gray spots to your eyes, no matter how awesome your telescope is. Don't expect a Hubble experience from a 6" scope (or 8, or 12+).

* Don't expect to take photos through your telescope, either. You might manage to get some cool shots of the moon (which looks _amazing_ in a telescope, btw), but true astro photography is a whole 'nother beast (both fun and expensive).

With all that as background, I'd recommend a 6" or 8" Dobsonian if you've got the budget. Something like an Orion Sky Quest XT8 or XT6.

My favorite book, by a light year, is "Turn Left at Orion". It'll help you find thousands of cool things in the night sky, and it's great for beginners on up. — https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp...

P.S. Definitely checkout r/telescopes for additional advice and info.

⬐ groby_b

That's not entirely true. Bright DS objects you'll see just fine if you step away the tiniest bit from super-bright lights, you don't need a "dark site".

My place is right next to a brightly lit pool (which I hate with a passion ;), and M42 is visible just fine. Even with the naked eye. Same goes for photography - I've got a few pictures of M42 that are pretty darn cool, with a single exposure and a Canon DSLR. I've collected excellent single-exposure shots of Jupiter & Saturn during the conjunction.

No, it's not as spectacular as the stuff you see when you look at images you find online, but it's still a "holy shit" moment the first time you manage to.

You should just be aware that you'll quickly learn the limitations, and getting a taste for DSOs/star photography means you'll likely develop a desire to do more. ("I wish I could see X"/"I wish I could take better pictures") And that starts getting expensive. (But that's true for any hobby that requires you to buy things, there are always more toys ;)

⬐ jjav

Yes, M42 (Orion Nebula) is spectacular and doesn't take much equipment or dark site. I have a large framed photo of M42 on the wall here which I took with just my DSLR from my driveway near streetlights.