Useful tips when choosing a telescope

So how do I choose a telescope? It's mostly about the aperture size - the bigger the lens or mirror, the more light it gathers, the brighter and sharper the image you get when looking into the eyepiece.

The bigger, however, is not always better as you should also decide if you need a portable telescope to be able to take it on a trip or if you are just going to use it primarily in one location.

Another consideration you should take into account is whether you are going to use your telescope mostly in the city environment or in the countryside.

There is a lot of light pollution in the city, so choosing a refractor or catadioptric type of telescope would be the best option for urban use. These telescopes also require less maintenance and are less bulky so you can easily set one up on a balcony or next to a window.

For the countryside, the best choice would be a reflector or Newtonian telescope, which normally has a larger aperture that gathers more light, so the light pollution in the city environment would greatly diminish its light-gathering capabilities.