Telescope
Telescopes exist in The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. They can be bought in buy mode. Using the telescope is Fun and increases a Sim's Logic.
The Sims
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The Horrorwitz "Star-Track" Backyard Telescope is a good way of increasing a Sim's Logic skill. However, a Sim who spends a long time looking through it (two or three points without taking a break), may be abducted by aliens. A blue sphere will appear, and the Sim will vanish for a few hours. When the Sim returns, their personality will have been reversed, and they will think about aliens for quite a while afterward.
The Sims 2
In The Sims 2, there are two telescopes, the Astrowonder (§550) and the Farstar e3 (§2100). The price isn't the biggest difference - Sims using the Astrowonder won't ever be abducted (unless cheats or hacks are used to force an abduction), but with the Farstar it's possible. If an adult male Sim who is more than 5 days away from becoming an elder gets abducted, he will come back pregnant.
In The Sims 2: FreeTime, all of the telescope actions have a chance of alien abduction, but the Aspiration Benefit for Knowledge, Summon Aliens, allows a Sim to create a spotlight with a flashlight and the telescope, giving them a huge chance of abduction. In FreeTime, Sims can also earn money discovering new celestial and astral bodies.
Using either telescope during daylight and accidentally (or "accidentally", with mods) looking at a Sim through the telescope will make those neighbors mad at the Sim using the telescope. Even so, Sims may do it autonomously.
Being abducted is easier with boolprop testingcheatsenabled true - with this cheat active, shift-click on the telescope of your choice and add the command "Get Abducted" to the queue, in order to have the Sim taken by aliens. However, this method isn't perfect as nearby Sims will not get the memory of the abduction without using hacks.
According to theory, the first Sim created in a neighborhood is always going to shove anyone spying on them. But whenever anyone in the family/household of the first created Sim, the first of the secondary family will shove the Sim instead. The following table will show all neighborhoods, and the Sims that will shove any spying neighbor:
| NEIGHBORHOODS | SHOVING SIM | SECONDARY SHOVING SIM |
| Pleasantview | Mortimer Goth | Daniel Pleasant, or John Burb if moved to Pleasantview [citation needed] |
| Strangetown | Vidcund Curious | Olive Specter |
| Veronaville | Consort Capp | Patrizio Monty |
| Bluewater Village | Stephen Tinker | Checo Ramirez [citation needed] |
| Riverblossom Hills | Leod McGreggor | Jason Greenman |
| Desiderata Valley | Luis Aspir | Issac Bell [citation needed] |
| Belladonna Cove | Armand DeBateau | Jason Cleveland [citation needed] |
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 returns to only a single type of telescope, found under the Study->Hobbies section. In addition to increasing fun and logic, the telescope also allows a Sim to "Search The Galaxy", in which case they may find and name a new celestial body, such as Stars, Moons, Planets, Comets, and Satellites.
The Sim may also see a meteorite fall to the ground. This will place a map marker where the Sim can go to retrieve it. This map marker eventually disappears, so the player will have to be quick.
However, Sims do not seem to use it to spy on their neighbors, and they will not be abducted.