[astrospotter (Mark)]

Most of the right things have already been mentioned but I would add that start the night with a Telrad sight adjusted on some bright star so you know the sight is right on the money. Practice is also fun by the way as a lot of the fun is in the hunt. Just dont hunt for really dim things till you get used to finding brighter things to avoid discouragement.

I enjoy and feel a telrad sight is a must because you can often find bright naked eye stars nearby many targets and position the telrad outer edge or middle circle relative to bright stars then you are likely to be close. Then start with a low power (for you try to have a 32mm plossel or other lens for finding). Once you find the object in that, perhaps recognizing semi-bright stars seen in an atlas, only then do you pop in the 9mm or higher power eyepeice.

You do need some charts like was also mentioned and I would ditto the SkyAtlas 2000 OR if you want a smaller more manageable atlas that shows all the main objects get Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas. Both have full sky coverage for pole to pole observing. You do need charts of some sort be it printed out beforehand or whatever.


Then go for the bright ones like have been mentioned like Omega Centauri and 47 TUC. You cannot go wrong with looking for Orion nebula because it is right by some naked eye bright stars below the 'belt of orion' and would be a real treat in a 10" scope.

I would also throw in Ngc2561 or other big open clusters because they are more obvious when you find them. Since you can see from a dark area outside of town the LMC and the SMC it would be very fun to find those and browse. The bright showpiece in the LMC is of course the Tarantula nebula. So once you find the LMC poke around within that beast and you are sure to stumble on the huge nebula that can be seen without a filter.

Enjoy the scope. 10" is a really nice size. Portable but still has a lot of light gathering ability and is easy to swing about and move.