One could use a telescope for observing nature.
As for star-gazing, there are still areas where amateur or semi-professional astronomers can make contributions. You could still discover another planet!
Here's how: I was Googling "Trojan planets" for um, technical reasons, when I came across an interesting article from a small college group.
They had reasoned that some few "eclipsing binaries" -- those are stars that orbit each other, and do so such that they pass in front of each other as we observe them, (one eclipses the other) -- could possibly have an invisible companion planet that orbited at the same distance in a rotating equilateral triangle.
Logic said that such a planet would also tend to eclipse (slightly) its companion stars. By observing for a very slight diminution of light from the star being eclipsed, (or transited), at exactly the right time in the grand rotation, one could deduce the presence of a Trojan Planet hundreds of light years away!
Keep in mind that timing of observations and accuracy of light intensity measurements are at least as important as the quality of your scope, but you too could be a Lowell or Tombaugh!
Were Igor alive, he would give you a run for your money when it comes to astronomy! He had a Charter Subscription to Astronomy magazine, but he was so far advanced in that baliwick that he kept waiting for bigger and better telescopes.
His career in the aerospace industry caused him to spend MANY nights in the cold and dark, even though “I” was waiting!
In Saudi Arabia, he was King of the Compound, and saw things in the sky he could only murmur about.
I’m still in awe of what he saw....