James,
Once you tire of these things, more things you can try your hand at, depending on your scope (these assume you have access to a newtonian around 25cm - 30cm aperture, and observing from a dark site):
Obtain a copy of Sky Atlas 2000, either printed or digital, and figure out which sheets correspond to the meridian. Now start hunting down the galaxies shown, most on Sky Atlas are easily within reach of a 25-30cm scope. There are many well worth looking for, e.g. the Virgo cluster, the Leo triplet or Stephans Quintet. One aspect of the printed maps is that you can tick them off with a pencil as you find them. There are some mistakes in Sky Atlas too, though it will be quite while before you find these.
Keep tabs on bright supernova discoveries, and try to find these visually. The chances of an amateur discovering one now are slim thanks to robotic 'scopes, but interesting nonetheless.
|