What kind of gear? I'd defer researching gear until you have some idea what celestial bodies, motions, and phenomena are in the sky. Which lets you figure what

What kind of gear? I'd defer researching gear until you have some idea what celestial bodies, motions, and phenomena are in the sky. Which lets you figure what kind of objects you may be more interested in and what gear they require. What kind of things can you look for? Most classes of objects large telescopes can show, but you'll see them very differently and sometimes struggle to locate or identify them. That's why it's better to learn a bit of astronomy before thinking about gear. Is it possible for amateur astronomers to find things that the pros haven’t already found? Absolutely, but it takes considerable experience with astronomy and observing techniques. My advice: just start anywhere (e.g. from books if you're a text person). Nothing will make sense in the beginning but, eventually, things will start to fall into place.