Which kind of astronomy suits you

These share a sky and very little else. Read them as separate hobbies, because that is how they behave in practice — in what they cost, when they happen, and whether a bright suburban sky ruins them.

• Naked-eye and binocular observing — Learning the sky itself — constellations, the planets moving, the Moon through a month. Costs nothing or £100 for binoculars, works from anywhere, and is the branch that most reliably survives a bad sky and a busy life. It is also the foundation every other branch quietly assumes.
• Visual deep-sky observing — Galaxies, nebulae and clusters through a telescope, by eye. Wants aperture above all else and wants dark sky more than any other branch — a light-polluted garden removes most of the target list rather than dimming it. Rewards patience and star-hopping skill.
• Lunar and planetary observing — The Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars. Almost immune to light pollution, which makes it the branch that works from a city centre, and limited instead by atmospheric steadiness. Wants long focal length rather than raw aperture, and rewards being out often enough to catch a good night.
• Astrophotography — A different hobby wearing the same coat. The instrument is a mount rather than a telescope, most of the work happens indoors afterwards, and it is by a wide margin the most expensive and most technically demanding branch. It is also the only one where a poor sky can be partly processed out.
• Solar observing — The one branch that happens in daylight, which makes it uniquely compatible with an ordinary schedule. Needs purpose-made equipment and absolute discipline about it — this is the only part of astronomy where a mistake can permanently blind you.
• Variable stars and occultations — Measuring rather than looking. Modest equipment, a national organisation to submit to, and the branch where an amateur most plausibly contributes something a professional will use.
• Meteors and aurorae — No equipment at all, a comfortable chair, and a willingness to be outside at three in the morning on the right night. Almost entirely a matter of timing and patience.

You can get most of the way to an answer without knowing anything about telescopes, by answering three questions about your circumstances rather than about the sky.

• How dark is the sky you can actually get to, on a Tuesday? — Not the sky you could reach on a special trip. If the honest answer is a suburban garden, then lunar, planetary and solar observing will reward you and deep-sky visual observing will mostly frustrate you — the faint objects are not dim in a bright sky, they are absent.
• Do you want to look at something, or make something? — This separates visual observing from astrophotography more cleanly than any equipment question. Observers want to have seen it with their own eye; imagers want a picture and are content to spend the clear night running equipment and the following week processing. Both are legitimate and people rarely enjoy both equally.
• How much of your evening can be unpredictable? — Deep-sky observing and imaging both need several hours of clear dark and are cancelled at short notice by cloud. Lunar, planetary and solar work can be done in twenty minutes through a gap. That constraint eliminates more people from a branch than any amount of interest overcomes.

• Learn the sky with no equipment for a few months — Constellations, the planets, how it all moves through a season. Every branch above is easier afterwards and none of it is wasted, including for imagers.
• Go to a local society meeting — The single highest-value thing available. You will look through several instruments belonging to people who will tell you honestly what they are good for, which no review does.
• Find out how dark your sky really is — By looking, on a clear moonless night, and counting what you can see. It is usually worse than people assume and occasionally much better.
• Buy binoculars before a telescope — A usable pair is £80–£150, shows a great deal, and is the instrument most experienced observers reach for most often. It is also useful if you stop.
• Then decide — By that point the branch has usually chosen itself, and the equipment question has become a narrow one.