You can get ok photos just holding your cell phone up to the eyepiece. Which sounds stupid, but phone cameras tend to do well with short focal-length, and the

You can get ok photos just holding your cell phone up to the eyepiece. Which sounds stupid, but phone cameras tend to do well with short focal-length, and the large "viewfinder" of your phone's screen helps a lot. Although the last time we tested this in detail was 2009. The Image-Sensor Processor (ISP) in current cell-phones changes the game. Sounds like a waste of time, but my favorite onserving sessions are "sidewalk astronomy" -- sharing simple direct observation with people who have never used a telescope. I encourage direct, hands-on experimentation with a minimum of equipment. Beyond that, of course you pretty much need super-cooled CCD and the best telescope mount you can afford. Often the mount is the key, more $$$ than the telescope itself. Deep-sky observation, faint nebulae are smudges of light to visible eye even through a big scope. You want a big light-bucket, like a Dobsonian, which emphasize mirror size rather than expensive mounts or optical clarity. For your first telescope, buy a good set of auto-stabilizing binoculars. Large field of view means you can get used to finding things on the sky. You can take them anywhere. Big scope is like desktop computer. Binoculars like the cell-phone in your pocket.