[masraum]

Originally Posted by fireant911

Pazuzu,
WONDERFUL advice!!! I checked Orion's site as you recommended and it is actually cheaper when considering the cost of shipping PLUS there are some freebies included! Thanks for sharing your wisdom, knowledge, and experiences in this area. I am looking forward to observing the skies... and I bet that I do not even have to wait until Christmas.

Mike certainly won't steer you wrong. He's obviously got way, way more experience in this stuff than the average bear. The Dobsonian style scope is pretty much the best bang for your buck, and the 6" is practically the same price as the 4.5" so definitely go with the extra aperture. You'll love it and be amazed at what you can see.

Besides pretty amazing views of the moon, Jupiter and moons, Saturn and moons, and really, all of the other planets and several minor planets, and deep sky objects, you can also see and track satellites and the ISS. I was once able to track ISS in my old 8" (at low power, it's moving fast and hard to follow) which allowed me to see the structure of the thing.

Besides good star charts (I always liked these for something that I could print out)
Messier Maps

And for an amazing and free bit of software that allows you to do tons of stuff and includes satellites.
Stellarium