Telescopes can have multiple uses depending on their design. Refractors and Cassegrains can provide a "correct-image" view, so they can be used for daytime land viewing as well as astronomy. Reflectors render the image upside down so they are not recommended for daytime viewing. This is not an issue for astronomy, however, because there's no "right-side up" in space.

A small, quality achromatic refractor of 60mm to 80mm aperture makes a fine starter scope for observing the Moon and major planets. They're affordable ($100 to $350), portable, and maintenance-free, all desirable factors if you're just "testing the waters" of Astronomy. If nebulas and galaxies are your main interest, a Newtonian reflector or Schmidt-Cassegrain is the way to go. Moving up to a 90mm or 100mm refractor will snare more objects and provide better performance, for a higher price. Renowned for crisp, sharp images, refractors are the priciest per inch of aperture of all telescope types. A refractor is the scope of choice if you will be doing most of your stargazing from city or suburbs, where the night skies are moderately light-polluted. Since viewing is restricted mostly to the Moon and planets a big scope would only amplify the skyglow, yielding poor washed out images. Reflectors Newtonian reflectors are great all-around scopes, offering generous apertures at affordable prices. They excel for both planetary and deep-sky viewing. Of course, the larger the aperture, the more you'll see. Smaller, 3" and 4.5" equatorially mounted Newtonians will provide a nice "survey" of celestial luminaries, and they maintain their portability. Six-inch and 8" Newts have enough aperture to deliver captivating images of fainter star-clusters, galaxies, and nebulas-especially in a reasonably dark sky. Although the 6" to 8" Newts are bulkier and weigh more, with a Dobsonian mount they are easily manageable by one person making them a wonderful beginner scopes. Dobsonian-mounted reflectors have lower price tags than their equatorial counterparts, starting in the mid-$300s for a 6" Dob. Schmidt-Cassegrains If portability is important to you, you might want to consider a "catadioptric" scope such as a Schmidt-Cassegrain or Maksutov-Cassegrain. They pack a hefty aperture into a very compact tube. An 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain provides excellent views of the Moon, planets, and deep-sky objects, and is well suited for astrophotography. Schmidt-Cassegrains should be considered as an investment priced over $1000 for the most basic 8" models (and hundreds more to outfit it for astrophotography). The Bottom Line Now that you've received the crash course on telescopes, here's some parting advice for aspiring astronomers: Get as much aperture as you can reasonably handle. Big aperture is desirable, however you don't want to end up with a scope that is too big or complicated to conveniently set up, haul around-and use! Also, avoid those gee-whiz, techno-toy scopes with the hefty price tags that are showing up in the big chain stores. For a first telescope, we recommend a basic refractor of 90mm aperture or smaller, or a Newtonian reflector of 6" aperture or less, unless you're really committed. After you've learned the basics of observing and developed an appreciation for the hobby, then you can move up to a bigger, fancier scope.

A measure of the enlargement of an object seen through an optical instrument. More specifically, it is a measure of the angle subtended by an image viewed with optical aid divided by the angle subtended by the same object without optical aid. Magnification is determined by dividing the focal length of the telescope (or binocular) by that of the eyepiece. Hence a telescope with a 1200mm focal length and an eyepiece of 40mm yields a magnification of 30x. The human eye is considered 1x magnification.

The optical diameter (also known as aperture), is the size of the telescope's main light collecting lens or mirror, measured in millimeters or inches. As the diameter increases, more light is collected and the resolution increases.

The field of view expressed as part of a 360-degree circle. Holding your pinky finger out at arms length is approximately 1-deg wide. To convert this to the linear measurement of "feet at a thousand yards", multiply by 52.5. For example, at 1000 yards distance, a 7-deg binocular will see a width of 367.5 feet (7 x 52.5)

The distance, measured in millimeters, between the observer's eye and the eyepiece lens in which the entire field of view remains visible. Eye relief varies with the optical design but generally increases with decreasing magnification. Long eye relief is advantageous for observers who wear glasses, as they don't have to put their eye directly on the eyepiece to see the entire field of view, nor do they have to remove their eyewear.

The diameter of the circle of light exiting the telescope eyepiece. It appears as a distinct disk when the telescope is pointed at a bright source like the Moon. Also known as the Ramsden disk, the exit pupil varies with both aperture and magnification.

The minimal distance at which a binocular and/or spotting scopes can attain focus. Near focus is an important quality for bird watchers and wildlife devotees who want to get as close as possible to their quarry.

Lenses are coated with an anti-reflective material to ensure that as little light as possible is reflected away, thus more gets to your eye. Good lenses are at least "fully coated," with a single layer of magnesium fluoride applied to each air-to-glass lens surface. Multiple layers of coatings are even more effective; the term "multi-coated" means one or more lens surfaces have multiple coatings. "Fully multi-coated" is superior because all lens surfaces are multiple-layer coated. Mirror star diagonals are coated with a reflective material similar to telescope mirrors in order to reflect the light into the eyepiece. Standard aluminum coatings reflect between 88%-92%, and enhanced aluminum reflects 97%. Dielectric coatings use a different process to deposit a coating that reflects 99% of the light. In addition to the higher reflectivity, Dielectric coatings are much more durable than aluminum coatings, so they last longer and can be cleaned with less risk of damage.

Lowest useful magnification is the power at which the exit pupil of the telescope (the beam of light exiting the eyepiece) becomes 7mm in diameter. Powers below this can still be reached with the telescope to give wider fields of view, but the image no longer becomes brighter at a lower power. This is due to the fact that the exit pupil is now larger than the average person's dark adapted pupil, therefore the eye cannot absorb any more light.

The highest practical limit is different from the often used "highest theoretical magnification" specification. The "theoretical" limit generally is 50x the aperture of the scope in inches (2x the aperture in mm). So for example, an 80mm refractor is capable of 160x, and a 10" telescope is theoretically capable of 500x magnification. But after approximately 300x, theory breaks down and real world problems take over. The atmosphere above us is constantly in motion, and it will distort the image seen through the telescope. This effect may not be noticeable at lower powers, but at higher powers the atmosphere will dramatically blur the object, reducing the quality of the image. On a good night (a night where the air above is steady and the stars aren't twinkling), the practical upper limit of a large telescope is 300x, even though the theoretical limit may be much higher. This doesn't mean the scope will never be able to reach those higher "theoretical" powers - there will be that rare night where the atmosphere is perfectly still and the scope can be pushed past it's practical limit, but those nights will be few and far between.