道布森望远镜特指一种利用简单经纬仪 (天文)承托的反射望远镜，外形与大炮相似，由美国天文爱好者约翰·道布森于1950年代开始制作，在1980年代被广泛提倡借以普及天文学。由于成本低廉，结构简单坚固且方便携带，因此十分适合天文爱好者自行制作。

原则上，道布森望远镜没有限制望远镜的光学设计，但一般均为牛顿式反射望远镜，口径由10厘米至超过1米的均有。大型的道布森望远镜为了减轻重量，不少采用桁架式设计。这种望远镜一般没有安装追踪设备，因此主要用于目视观测，其光学面多为抛物面，焦比可至F4-F6，聚光力较强，尤其适合于低倍的深空天体观测。不过，亦有人为此类望远镜加装跟踪系统，用作高倍行星观测或行星摄影及月面摄影。

A Dobsonian telescope is an alt-azimuth mounted Newtonian telescope design popularized by John Dobson starting in the 1960s credited with vastly increasing the size of telescopes available to amateur astronomers . Dobson's telescopes featured a simplified mechanical design that was easy to manufacture from readily available components to create a large, portable, low-cost telescope. The design is optimized for visually observing faint deep sky objects such as nebulae. This type of observation requires a large objective diameter (i.e. light-gathering power) of relatively short focal length and portability for travel to relatively less light polluted locations.