Buying a telescope

Around the Christmas Shopping Season, a lot of stores will carry TSOs* for people to buy. (*Telescope Shaped Objects) These are usually priced around the $200 range and are decorated to look very cool and 'sciency'. Unfortunately, the money spent on these features take away money that could be spent on better optics so these are not really usable as telescopes. They disappoint and are put in a closet and forgotten after a few sessions. Money would be better spent on a decent pair of binoculars ($80), a lawn chair ($30) and a good book on observing ($30). If the astronomy 'bug' doesn't strike, you still have a nice pair of binoculars, a good lawn chair and a book you can donate to your local library... Chemist Derek Lowe is an amateur astronomer and has a great post on buying a telescope:

Science Gifts: Telescopes, Etc.
As longtime readers know, one of my spare-time occupations is amateur astronomy. I often get asked by friends and colleagues for telescope recommendations, so (just as I did last year), I'd like to provide some, along with some background on the whole topic..

The key thing to remember with a telescope is that other things being equal, aperture wins. More aperture means that you will be able to see more objects and more details. It's only fair to note that not all amateur astronomers agree with this, or about which kind of scope is best. As you'll see, larger apertures involve some compromises. And keep in mind that while a bigger scope can show you more, the best telescope is the one that you'll actually haul out and use. Overbuying has not been my problem, dang it all, but it has been known to happen. These days, eight-inch reflectors are a good solid entry point, but smaller ones will be cheaper (and perhaps worth it to see if this is something you really want to get into).

There, I've mentioned reflectors. Those are one of the three main kinds of scopes to consider: the other two are refractors, and folded-path. The refractors are the classic lens-in-the-front types. They can provide very nice views, especially of the planets and other brighter objects, and many planetary observers swear by them. But per inch of aperture, they're the most expensive, especially since for good views you have to spring for high-end optics to keep from having rainbow fringes around everything. I can't recommend a refractor for a first scope, for these reasons. A cheap one is not going to be a good one. That's especially true since a lot of the refractors you see for sale out there are nearly worthless - a casual buyer would be appalled at the price tag for a decent one. No large refractors have been built for astronomical research for nearly a hundred years.

A nice long informative post with lots of links to sources of information and vendors. On a personal note, I am an astronomy geek as well -- belonged to a club back when I lived in Boston and had an 8" Newtonian in New Hampshire. Attended Stellafane regularly. When I moved to where I am now, I was thinking that finally, I could get a decent telescope and start observing again. That changed when I looked to the North and saw the light pollution from the city of Abbotsford (123,865 people) 15 miles due North... Got a lot of other things keeping me busy.