I have been thinking about getting my first telescope. There is just so much to choose from & I am honestly a little overwhelmed. I want something that is affordable, beginner friendly & still allows me to see the moon, planets & if it is feasible, some deep sky objects in the night sky.
I have heard a lot about refractors vs reflectors & I am curious if one is better for beginners. Also, how important is the mount?? I have seen a few telescopes with motorized mounts but I am not sure if I need something that advanced just yet.
Any suggestion for a good first telescope or tips on what to look for would be super helpful. I want to hear if anyone has any beginner mistakes they learned from so I can avoid them I am also curious if anyone has used AI based telescope systems for beginners and how that worked out.
As well, I found these resources when doing research on this;
Thank you…….
When I first started, I thought the motorized mount would be a little too extra so I bought a cheap manual telescope (about 3") which was really great at first but I grew out of it quickly. It’s perfect for the moon and planets, but it didn’t take me long to realize that I would have a really hard time finding any deep sky objects that I couldn’t see with the naked eye. So it was a good experience to have that one, but I upgraded so fast that I feel like I probably could have skipped the first one altogether. Now I have a Celestron Nexstar 8SE which is very straightforward for beginners (once you learn how alignment works). I think I’ll be good with this one for a while – probably not forever, but it’s perfect for finding basic DSOs like the Messier objects. I paid about $1600 on Amazon for the 8SE (8"), but the 6SE (6") is a little smaller and more affordable. I also plan to use it as a tracker for photography with a piggyback mount, so that’s another way the motor helps. That’s my recommendation
