the moon - Telescope buying guide for a beginner in India

If you are a beginning astronomer, there is not much point worrying about all the bells and whistles you can get with a good telescope.

Instead, the key points to look for are:

• light-gathering diameter - this gives an indication of how dim an object you will be able to see


• supports/stand/mount - a basic tripod will be fine if you want to see no further than Jupiter, but it will wobble too much for longer distance viewing, so a solid mount will be essential


• motor/computer drive - at high magnification, objects will pass the eyepiece very quickly, so you will want to look at tracking drives that can follow objects smoothly

But to be honest, you could start with a $100 telescope and really enjoy yourself learning the sky.