I remember when I saw Centaurus A for the first time ... after spending months looking with a smaller scope, I was exciting but no one nearby (sisters kids) would understand.
I was looking for (I forget now) but found the ring nebula near Vega .... and I think was more excited to see a slight blueish/grey hue and a definite ring shape at x208 then finding Centaurus A.
in the northern sky theres a few PNs to hunt down ... good luck
(probably a lot more but I've been trying for Neptune but have failed miserably)