Hi everyone.
How could I not be interested when my Dad got me up early one morning in 1965 and I saw this:-
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Ikeya_Seki.jpg
It's taken many years before I could do something about my interest, but I'm going out to a darkish sky location outside Melbourne Sunday night with a newly arrived pair of 20x80s (and tripod) to see what I can see! I'm graduating from a pair of 12x60s I've had for a few months which have been a revelation - the moons of Jupiter, seen only a mere 400 years after Galileo!
I'm hunting M31, the Jewel Box, M42 etc. Wish me luck!