Hi Joe,
to IIS!
That little triangular cluster of stars you found would be The Jewel Box! (NGC 4755 if you would like to chase it down again
)
It is not only a brilliant cluster, but among the diamonds there is a ruby! Have another go at the Jewel Box and see if you can spot it
The great thing here is you can see the ruby under Sydney skies!
Congrats on the scope too. It is a fine machine. It will take you a few goes at figuring out how to get the best alignment with its goto, but there is always a learning curve. One tip, try not to set up the scope on lush turf. This makes a significant impact on the ability on the scope to be moved by the motors - and this goes for push-pull scopes too.
Here's some other targets you might like to chase down:
* NGC 3372, the Eta Carina nebula. Here you will find stars at the three stages of their lives: protostars, forming stars that have not started their nuclear fires and lie hidden inside strands of dark material called dark pillars; main sequence stars, their nuclear fires have kicked off and are burning bright; geriatric stars, stars at the end of their life and going through their death throes. The name of the nebula is actually the name of the star Eta Carina, a super massive star that is expected to go supernova shortly (well any time between now and the next 10,000 years...)
* NGC 5139, Omega Centauri. The largest & brightest globular cluster in the sky. It is the remnant core of a galaxy our own Milky Way devoured eons ago. A black hole sits at the heart of this cluster, keeping all these millions of stars in stable orbits around it. Be patient with yourself with GC's. Look to one side of the ball of stars, hold your gaze for a moment and all the little stars will suddenly leap out!
* NGC 5128, Centaurus A, aka the Hamburger Galaxy. One of the few galaxies that be just glimpsed from the Big Smoke. Again, be patient with yourself here. It will challenge your novice eyes Cent. A. Not everything is flashy-showy in the sky, and urban skies present bigger problems. But it will also prepare you well for when you do go to a dark site
This should get you going,
Alex.