First, we need to go over the 2 Telescope Rules:

1) Never, ever even think about looking at the Sun with a telescope or a pair of binoculars. You (probably) have 2 eyes, so you can violate this rule twice in your life. My strong recommendation is not to violate it at all!

2) Don't buy a department-store refractor. These pieces of junk show up at Sears or Wal-Mart each year, and the clue is this: They are advertised by their magnification. [675X!]. You don't want high magnification if you're starting out, and even if you did, these scopes are not really capable of delivering it.

The first place to start if you're interested in buying a scope is the sci.astro.amateur Telescope FAQ. It's a nice intro, and I agree with 99% of what's in there. If you follow the FAQ to the letter, you'll attend some Astronomy club meetings in your area, get a chance to look thru several different kinds of scopes, and end up buying a 6" or 8" Dobsonian. If you add in an extra eyepiece or two, you'll spend about $500 and enter the hobby with a good quality general purpose scope.

If you want to make one, I'd recommend starting with Richard Berry's book Build Your Own Telescope. The book (considered a classic in the ATM (Amateur Telescope Making) community) has plans for 5 scopes, I started my ATM career with the 6" f/8 dobsonian. I recommend building your own, if that appeals to you. During the time I built my first two scopes, I enjoyed the building at least as much as I enjoyed using them later. If you do not enjoy building stuff, don't try, you'll only get frustrated.

My personal recommendation for beginners who don't want to build: a 80mm widefield refractor. Orion has one, as does Celestron (They're the same scope, OEM'd from somewhere in China). They sell for $250 (at most... I've seen them for $99 at Adorama on special) and come with a couple of eyepieces (of mediocre quality). You may need to spend another $100 on a tripod (though it often comes with the scope) - so you're set for just under $400.

Why do I recommend this scope? Several reasons:

• The wide field (5-10X the area that a 6" dob gives you) makes finding things - a typical beginner frustration - easier.
• It's portable. A scope that you can carry outside with one hand gets used more often.
• Some beginner objects (M45, Beehive, Sword of Orion, Double Cluster, M46/47, Open clusters in Casseopia, etc.) are too big to be seen in a single field of a 6" f/8 scope.
• It's fun to cruise the Milky Way at low power
• It has some daytime use as a spotting scope (you'll want an image erector).
• If you get into Astronomy as a hobby, you'll probably get a "real" telescope later. If you do, you'll find that a little scope like this one will still get used. The same can not be said for a 6" f/8 dob.

There are two things this scope will perform poorly on, compared to a 6" f/8 dob:

• The planets. The supplied eyepieces will get you up to around 40X - enough to see 2 belts on Jupiter (+ the four main moons), the ring on Saturn (+about four moons), the disc of Mars, and the phase of Venus - that's it. [Uranus and Neptune will be faint dots, Mercury will be a bigger dot, and you won't be able to see Pluto] The planets start to get good at around 200X, and even if you had the eyepieces to get 200X, this scope really isn't capable of delivering it.
• Galaxies and nebulae. Light grasp is important for both of these, and a 80mm scope grabs under a third of what a 6" scope delivers. You'll only be able to see the brightest galaxies and nebulas with this scope.

For the planets, I recommend looking thru a "real" scope at a star party or an Astronomy club meeting, etc. The Moon will look great in the 80mm scope, but then, it looks great in anything.

As for galaxies and nebulae, it is likely that you'll start observing from a light-polluted area (in a city). And, light pollution kills galaxies and nebulae anyway.

That's my advice - easily worth 2 or 3 times what you paid for it :-).

My background: I've been an amateur for a couple of decades, I've built 3 scopes and bought a 4th, and I've looked through many different kinds of scopes.