I wanted to take a moment and say thank you to everyone for the insight and helpful suggestions regarding Telescopes. I appreciate everyone taking the time out to help a novice at Astronomy.
The suggestions from Rockstar, Sean C and Otto Harkman, although his post disappeared, were especially helpful.
Sean C @ I noticed you had to get your Guitar in the picture. Rock on.
I know it's not very realistic but I would like to get out as far as Neptune. I'm sure it's far more realistic to maybe be able to see Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Venus. I would be thrilled with that. Mercury is difficult to view as it's always low on the horizon and hard to pick out. Betelgeuse, Antares, the Galaxy of Andromeda and Pleiades ( the 7 Sisters ) are also pretty realistic, in terms of viewing, with a decent Telescope.
In College, There were two gentlemen who had been with NASA and I believe the JPL laboratories. They were teaching course in Astronomy and Astro - Physics. I wanted to take a few courses with them but was carrying 5 classes ( 15 credits ) I had to get special permission from the Dean of Students to carry 15 credits. I had absolutely no time to spare as those classes were outside my discipline and would have been a luxury. When not studying, going to classes or working, I spent the precious few hours I had sleeping.
I will always regret not having been able to take their classes as they were highly acclaimed and the students who took their classes and studied with them raved about how great they were as teachers and professors.
Thanks again, everyone.
