A telescope for sale today, is pretty much the same as the ones sold a hundred years ago. Though there are marked differences, the technology pretty much stayed the same. However, in the last few years, computerized GoTo telescopes have become very popular over conventional reflector telescopes. Discover more in this article.

Reflector telescopes also known as a Newtonian reflector after Isaac Newton who invented it, is a telescope that operates with a mirror at one end of the telescope, to collect light, and bring it further up the telescope, where a secondary mirror moves the light through optics, to your eye.

A reflector telescope has good performance, and for its price, it is usually better than a refractor telescope, when compared with price and performance. A reflector telescope however, is manual. Even with a motor, it requires you to know where to point it.

Having a GoTo computerized telescope combats this problem. A GoTo telescope, once set up correctly, will find any object in the night sky.

Meade, Celestron and Orion telescopes produce a GoTo telescope, and come with a controller that allows you to simply enter the code for what you want to see, and the telescope zooms through the sky doing its work.

When ready the telescope is ready and when you look through the lens, you have the object in view! This is great for children and adults alike.

The biggest problem that people face when they buy telescopes, is knowing how to get the most out of backyard astronomy. This would have been a process of going through many books, learning a lot about astronomy, and more importantly applying consistently.

If you want to be a casual backyard astronomer, then you may find that you only get to see the most famous objects - such as Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon, etc. This leaves a lot of gems out of the equation, unless you are willing to invest more into astronomy, than simply buying a telescope. This applies on a $100 reflector telescope or a $10,000 reflector telescope.

The price for GoTo telescopes is quite reasonable considering what you get. Though for the same price, you likely could get a much better reflector telescope, the truth is that the help a GoTo computerized telescope can do is immense.

A question comes to mind - what do you really want out of astronomy? Astronomy is a vast subject, and one that can lead to many areas. If you want the most out of astronomy, and feel like learning and an adventure - a standard reflector telescope will allow you to gain thorough understanding of astronomy.

If you want to be able to see more objects, without having to know how to navigate through space, then a GoTo telescope can be great. And if you have children, a GoTo telescope can be a great way to arouse there interest in astronomy.