Guide
The guides
Few, dated, kept current. Each answers a real starting question — and points at the simulator so you can check instead of believe.
Which telescope should a beginner buy?
There is no best telescope. There is the one you will still carry outside in March, under your sky, on your budget. This page gives the short answer first, then the three things the box does not say, then the detail by budget and by situation. Every number here is computed; every opinion is labelled as one.
Updated 2026-08-23
Which telescope for a child?
The right question is not the child's age. It is: who will set the instrument up, who will point it, and what will they see on the first night? Depending on the answer, the right present is a small tabletop telescope you will use with them, binoculars they can carry alone — or, for a few more years, just a planisphere and a trip under a real sky. What it never is, is the 'children's telescope' in the Christmas catalogue.
Updated 2026-08-23
Telescopes under €200: what is worth it
This is the budget where catalogues do the most harm, because it is where the boxes printed '525×' get sold. Under €200 there are two good buys, one honest one, and everything else. This page gives them in order, shows what they let you see, and says when it is better to wait a month and add €50.
Updated 2026-08-23
130/900, 150/750 or a 150/1200 Dobsonian?
It is the most-asked question on the forums, and it gets the same answer every time, in forty replies. Here it is on one page: the three instruments show roughly the same thing, because they have roughly the same aperture. What separates them is what they stand on — and it is the mount, not the mirror, that decides whether you are still observing in March.
Updated 2026-08-23
Seestar, Dwarf or a real telescope?
For the first time, a question that is not about money: at €450–750 you can buy either a smart telescope that photographs the sky by itself, or a 200 mm Dobsonian that shows it to your eye. These are not two levels of the same thing. They are two activities, and this page tries to tell you which one is yours before the box decides.
Updated 2026-08-23