Hi Ron.
Sounds like you had a great first night. I had never seen a telescope in my life. But my daughter (11, the youngest one) showed a bit of an interest in the solar system so to be a good dad, I bought one. Couldn't spend too much, on what may be a one hit wonder, so I bought a 4 inch Celestron Neutonion. I was told I could see the rings of Saturn with it. Well, after I assembled it, I read the instructions, and re-assembled it the way I should have if I had read the instructions first. Then after a week of cloudy weather we ventured outside. One look at the moon and..........wow, it's so close, and so beautiful. Well okay, we're now hooked. Next after working out that most of the stars appear as white dots and nothing more I decided to do some research. Worked out that the only planet I can see at the moment, without staying up all night, is Saturn. I found it, but a bit of disappointment, could only just make it out with a 4 inch scope. So I went and bought a stronger eyepiece, now, It is still tiny, but yes, we saw the rings. Need I say more, we are hooked. I start holidays next week. We've picked out a spot to go camping not far from Buchan, Vic. The scope of course is going with us, and, we are converting to nocternalism (is that a word). Sleep is out of the question. Being an amateur and knowing nothing is okay, it's a learning process. That's why I found this site. Compared to me, you are a professional. I had no idea astronomy could bring so much pleasure. My only regret is, I should have found this site and spoken to people before I bought the telescope, now I want a bigger one.
..........Ps...I also saw comet McNaught.......wow.
