“I have always been interested in space and all those cool pictures of the Milky Way, I want to get into astronomy but I don’t know what to buy and I have a limited budget (About $500)”
or “My <kid/teen> is interested in space and I want to buy a telescope but I don’t know what to buy?”.
So firstly I think it is good for people to take an active interest in science, as it gives you the tools for other things in life like understanding how compound interest works to how many amp hours I need for a battery for my RV, etc. In astronomy there are a couple of sub-genres that exist that folks are interested in, they are Astrophotography which I would say is what draws quite a number of people as it is very catchy for social media and you get instant gratification for the work you might have done. Then there are the visual folks who want to observe the night sky through their eyes.
Now it’s important to understand that your human eyes are not very sensitive. All the pretty pictures you are used to seeing on the internet will not look like this to the naked eye. Most people who do this type of astronomy will typically steer you to a Dobsonian telescope and try to get you to get the largest diameter of telescope tube you can afford.
Now going back to the original question I am thinking you are wanting what most people want which are pretty pictures that you can share with friends and family that will keep you reasonably interested.
My suggestion is to purchase a ZWO Seestar S50, S30 or Dwarf3 telescope. They are reasonably priced and not too technical. They have all that you need plus there is an associated phone app.
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