the thing with telescopes is...its a hobby that CAN get expensive beyond belief...personally i have an older 8" dobsonian telescope (all manual it is good for planets/moon) and a 5" CAT which i need a better mount for. those were the INEXPENSIVE parts..
the expensive parts are the eyepieces - i went with baadar planetarium hyperion line to get started in astronomy- but i have been lazy the past year or so and have not even gone out-since i am in a "white zone" (very POOR area to observe from)....~140 bucks EACH eyepiece...i have 4 of them. the smaller the eyepiece, the bigger the magnification in conjunction with the scope... i have 3mm 8mm 13mm and 24mm- use the larger to find the body you are observing- planet etc, then switch eyepieces to zoom in- i also have some celestron plossl's, but generally i use the heavier- wider view- baadar's
televue make -just about- the best eyepieces out there and their ethos line cost ~5-700 dollars each eyepiece- and the resale value for well kept eyepieces stays extremely high...ie a 600 dollar eyepiece can sell for ~75% or more of the retail price...
i need to go out again, but i'm gonna get a better mount for the cat first for stability...(mount i use now i am at the limit of the payload- got a cheap automount with a 7lb payload, i need something with a ~15+lb payload for stability.
cool pictures