Powerful telescope

I want as powerful of a telescope as I can get for under $800, what is the best kind of telescope to do this. I am new to the hobby but I have always been interested in astronomy.

You could get this 8" Dob and still have a couple hundred left for eyepieces...

http://www.opticsplanet.net/meade-light ... copes.html

Cool, thanks. Wow, that is a weird looking telescope.

No problem.

Yeah, Dobsonian-mounted Newtonian telescopes look nothing like the prototypical refractor, but they give the most inches of aperture for the dollar.

Hi

It has very little to do with power or magnification. It's about telescope size. It's not about what you can see with a telescope; it's a matter of how much you can see and that, in turn, is about telescope size, in terms of the size of the lens or mirror. A small telescope can see exactly the same TYPES of objects - moon, planets, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters - as a large telescope, it just can't see as many of them or as much detail as a large telescope. If you are a beginner and especially if you are beginner wanting to see nebuale, star clusters and galaxies, it is important to understand that a larger scope is a better choice if you want to maintain an interest in astronomy. Flycrash is exactly right when he recommended getting a large scope.