Corresponding to the escalating “aperture fever” that has gripped amateur astronomy for several decades, an 8″ diameter is now generally regarded as the minimum entry-level aperture for serious observing. The low cost, large diameter, and fast focal ratio of the 8″ Sky-Watcher Dobsonian make it an ideal dedicated telescope for wide-field, deep-space observation of faint galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. The low-power dramatically captures wide swaths of sky in a single view. Galaxies and nebula appear to pop out of the heavens as bright, expansive masses of stars, gas, and dust.