This question has a ton of varied answers across the internet. The best bang for your buck is a good set of binoculars and a tripod for them. It's really neat how much you can see with just those... clearing up fuzzy spots with naked eyes by revealing clusters of stars.
From there, if you have found out that you enjoy being outside using the binoculars, can see what you expected... then buy a compact scope
I have two sets of cheap (<$100) binoculars, a cheap refractor from amazon (gskyer, $300), a very nice celestron c8 and a small meade MCT. I bought them in that order as I developed my interests. I use two different eye pieces, both plossals, one with about an inch of eye relief with no eyecup and one with a bit less relief and an eyecup. I use the binoculars more than all the others combined and if I were starting over I would buy a really nice set with a tripod.
For planets and nebulae I use the c8 with an equitorial mount. This is _fantastic_ for general objects in the night sky since once it's aligned it's a single knob to turn to keep up with things as the earth is rotating. For the moon and large planets and tracking things like space craft launching or starlink sats I use the refractor with the standard azimuth tripod. It makes it very easy to manually "point and shoot" objects with irregular travel paths.
Nightwatch has a dedicated eyes & binoculars target page for people who are getting into the hobby. Though as leetrout mentions you really need a tripod or mount to get the best results.
If you are interested in smart scopes and don’t mind missing direct observation, the Seestars or Dwarf 3 mini are getting pretty affordable (I borrowed a Dwarf to observe the solar eclipse - it came with solar filter - and playing around with it at night was very happy and got me into the hobby pretty deep so far…)
This question has a ton of varied answers across the internet. The best bang for your buck is a good set of binoculars and a tripod for them. It's really neat how much you can see with just those... clearing up fuzzy spots with naked eyes by revealing clusters of stars.
From there, if you have found out that you enjoy being outside using the binoculars, can see what you expected... then buy a compact scope
see https://telescopicwatch.com/different-types-of-telescopes/
I have two sets of cheap (<$100) binoculars, a cheap refractor from amazon (gskyer, $300), a very nice celestron c8 and a small meade MCT. I bought them in that order as I developed my interests. I use two different eye pieces, both plossals, one with about an inch of eye relief with no eyecup and one with a bit less relief and an eyecup. I use the binoculars more than all the others combined and if I were starting over I would buy a really nice set with a tripod.
For planets and nebulae I use the c8 with an equitorial mount. This is _fantastic_ for general objects in the night sky since once it's aligned it's a single knob to turn to keep up with things as the earth is rotating. For the moon and large planets and tracking things like space craft launching or starlink sats I use the refractor with the standard azimuth tripod. It makes it very easy to manually "point and shoot" objects with irregular travel paths.
So yea... go buy some binoculars.
Nightwatch has a dedicated eyes & binoculars target page for people who are getting into the hobby. Though as leetrout mentions you really need a tripod or mount to get the best results.
Cloudynights is another good forum for optics discussions and reviews
I'm using a Dwarf Mini - here in the UK Amazon currently has them on sale at 24% off as part of the Prime Deal Days.
If you are interested in smart scopes and don’t mind missing direct observation, the Seestars or Dwarf 3 mini are getting pretty affordable (I borrowed a Dwarf to observe the solar eclipse - it came with solar filter - and playing around with it at night was very happy and got me into the hobby pretty deep so far…)