I'm thinking of buying a telescope?

First of all a warning: Telescopes are very personal choices, and its very risky to buy one for someone as a surprise. Please involve your husband in the decision, even if it spoils the surprise!

The absolute best telescope you can get for $300 is the Orion SkyQuest XT6 Classic Dobsonian Telescope:

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Tele...

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner's telescopes:

http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telesco...

http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington's Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You'll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Tele...

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product....

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don't buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizat...

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur astronomy.

Many people who buy telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).

first of all l LOVE these questions!

first of all you have to ask your self if he is interested in astronomy?

if not, learn some things about it in astronomy books at the library and on the web. like:

http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Definitive-Visual-M...

http://www.astronomyforbeginners.com/

learn some constellations things like that like: Orion, big dipper (this isn't a constellation, its part of one called Ursa major), Gemini, and Taurus, using some thing like the Interactive Sky Chart on skyandtelescope.com(btw use binoculars to look at stuff like the moon planets and other things to try to get him interested)

if he get's interested in it and wants to get a telescope but isn't really interested get him something like an Orion telescope for starters. see:http://www.telescope.com/Articles/Current-Articles...

it shows what kind of telescopes are out there and the types.

also see:http://www.telescope.com/Articles/Current-Articles...

it tells you about eyepieces which give you magnification.

really i think you should explore all over : http://www.telescope.com/Articles/Current-Articles...

this is where i learned about astronomy