Astronomy

Hey, that's awesome! Great job! It's going to be real easy to drop a LOT of cash on eyepieces. Don't. Start on the cheaper side and only move up if you find that the eyepieces are limiting your viewing experience. A lot of people really like the 8-24 mm click-stop zoom pieces for starter eyepieces, though I don't have any experience with them. If you really want to splurge, buy a wide field of view piece. The full moon will be a deadly laser but doable without a filter. The sun will literally set your eyepiece on fire. I've seen it happen. An eyepiece filter will not be enough to protect you or your equipment from the sun. There are filters that will fit over the aperture (the end of the tube) that are basically the same material as solar eclipse glasses, and that's what you need. They aren't expensive, last I looked, though, again, I have no experience with them. For a list of possible targets to get some practice, see astroleague's urban observing program here: https://www.astroleague.org/urban-observing-program/ Note that there's a separate list of multi-star systems you should be able to split (see at least two distinct stars) in a scope of your size. I'd also recommend using Stellarium; it's a free app that's actually free, and it's absolutely dead useful for learning the night sky and planning/aiding viewing sessions. I use it to help me plan my outreach outings, and I really can't recommend it enough. Best of luck, I'm really happy for you, and please let me know how it goes!