[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by 726jenni

Would a 80mm be the starter size,

80mm aperture is a good starter size. The first scope I bought for my dad was an 80mm achromat refractor, and my first scope was 90mm. While you won't be out there hunting faint galaxies, you will still have a plethora of targets to explore on your starting journey into the night sky.

Is it right that this size refers to aperture and bigger is better?

yes, correct. With astronomy, we don't use telescopes for their magnification, we use telescopes because they capture alot of light, and astronomy targets are generally very dim, so more aperture, the more things you can see with a telescope.

are the ones you buy at department stores hopeless,

in a simple word, yes

is a refractor model better than reflector or are they useful for varying things, and which would we need?

They are useful for varying things. For your needs, which include both terrestrial and astronomy, I would suggest a refractor.

what are these dobs that you all say are great, is this the same as dobsonian, and would we need this type?

a dob is a short name for a dobsonian. Dobsonian is actually the name for the mount type. The dobsonian telescope is a reflecting (mirror) telescope on a simple push/pull mount type which sits on the ground. The advantage of a dob is that you spend little on the mount, and more on the optics. It allows you to get large aperture for a low price. If your husband was wanting a telescope for astronomy only, with no terrestrial, I would suggest a dob.

If you buy a telescope to look at the stars , what you see is upside down isn't it?, if so, how do you get to view things right side up, for looking at land or out to sea for example? Is there some lens or 'thing' to make it right side up?

for a refractor you can use a 45 degree prism which will give you the correctly oriented view for terrestrial. For astronomy (when you are viewing things up high) a 90 degree mirror diagonal is better.