I’m an astronomer, of the strictly amateur variety. It was one of the reasons I moved to Vermont, and a fundamental factor in buying my home.

My telescope is an Orion XT8 Dobsonian. A truly great scope. Big enough to hit all the Messier objects, small enough to tote, cheap enough to afford (under $400, shipped). I swear by my Telrad finder, but I’ve heard tell that other unity (red-dot) finders are useful as well.

I’m a Sky and Tel junky. been one for years.

If you love astronomy may I recommend AstronomyCast?

Detailed Star Maps

I swear by a good printed atlas like this one, but if you’re broke, download one of these…

Taki’s 8.5 Magnitude Star Maps

Taki’s 6 magnitude Star Maps

Telrad Maps to the Messier Objects

John Small’s Maps

hmmm, my other links to Telrad maps have gone dead. More heat death of the internet.