Modern image-stabilized binoculars are a tremendous boon for astronomy (though expensive), but any binoculars that are already knocking around the back of your closet are enough to launch an amateur-astronomy career.
For astronomy, the larger the front lenses the better. High optical quality is also important, more so than for binoculars that are used on daytime scenes. Modern image-stabilized binoculars are a tremendous boon for astronomy (though expensive), but any binoculars that are already knocking around the back of your closet are enough to launch an amateur-astronomy career.