[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

In the previous threads regarding "Beginners Telescopes" that I mentioned (in this forum), most people seemed to agree with Malcolm and John and Steffen and me, that an 8 inch Dobsonian is big enough to show decent views of the planets and deep sky objects, but not so big and heavy that the beginner is put off from regular observing or taking it to a dark sky site.

There were a few experienced amateur astronomers who thought a 10 inch Dobsonian was a good start for a beginner, because the deep sky performance of a 10 inch is a significant jump over an 8 inch, but you would have to be the sort of person who doesn't mind moving around a rather large and heavy and unwieldy object.

In any discussion of "beginner's telescopes" you also get one or two 'refractor fanatics' who insist that the optical quality of their small refractor is such that a four inch refractor is a good way for the beginner to start; but a telescope of under 5-6 inches of aperture is so very limited for deep sky viewing that you always end up looking at the same handful of objects if the sky is light polluted!