Sounds like you have a plan and the enthusiasm to enjoy your new hobby!

There are a number of good books out there for the beginner and one of my favorites is, A Complete Manual of Amateur Astronomy, written by our own Dr. P. Clay Sherrod. I would also like to suggest 40 Nights to Knowing the Sky as a good starter book.

It is a bit of a pain when the finder and telescope do not agree on where they are pointing. I would suggest during cold weather to set up your telescope indoors and find, if possible, a distant terrestrial target like an insulator or intersection on a utility pole. The further your target object is the better and I would suggest a couple miles if you can. Get the scope aligned on that target and without moving it adjust the holder screws of the finder until it agrees, that should make things closer when you set up at night. You can also fine tune the finders alignment when you first set up for observing by picking out a bright star in the eye piece and then adjusting the finder again.

Hopefully others will chime in with some reading suggestions and perhaps a little more concise equipment set up help, I'm not too familiar with your telescope.

Denis,

Let me also extend a warm welcome to ASO, and yes I have the same feeling as Ron, it's the best!

There are other members here who live in Arkansas so I imagine they will be able to help with opportunities to join other amateur astronomers there. This group is all about asking questions and sharing so feel free to ask away, the only dumb question is the one never asked! Knowing a more about the equipment you presently have would most likely make any answers you get a little more specific to your questions.

Welcome aboard!

Beautiful image Dave thanks for sharing, very nice to have contributors like you aboard!

Ron,

I'm not real familiar with the capabilities of your scope but if you can see 17th magnitude objects, which is what the girl saw, from where you are then I would say that you do have a chance. There is a vein in the astronomical community that believe only massive stars will ever go supernova so I believe ones quest for them would begin there, but that's only my opinion. I did a quick search and ran across an article that might add more to your, and my, knowledge base. You will quickly see a connection, no pun intended, between telescopes and computers! 

http://www.angelfire.com/space2/tgtan/sn_search.htm

I also found a couple more but have not read them entirely,

http://revivals.arkangles.com/searchingforsupernovae.php

http://www.supernovae.net/here.htm  click HOME for the main menu

http://tonnyvanmunster.ipage.com/supernovae/supernova_search_program.htm

I'm surprised that I missed this and that no one here mentioned it either, it shows that amateur astronomers can still make discoveries!

The FOX News article;

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/04/kid-discovers-supernova/

More articles and links can be found by Googling "10 year old discovers supernova"

Yes, thanks for the explaination Doc.

I have been on this earth long enough to have witnessed some strange and awesome things that mother nature has thrown at us too!

Not a problem Ed!

I know what it's like right after retirement but you'll get used to it!

Okay, Good luck Ron!

Now wish me luck getting my truck fixed! 

Well so far it's clear here but then my weather station says within twelve hours it will be otherwise, we'll see!

Hi Ed,

Firstly if I hadn't already, Welcome to ASO!

One of the best sources of information for those who have the know how to build things is MAPUG. I did a quick search and on their Astro-Designs page I found,

http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/astrodesigns/TrpdSled/Field_Transport/Field_Transport.htm

Their main page is,

http://www.mapug-astronomy.net/

if you'd like to do some searching on your own. If you would rather purchase something that would do the trick then I would recommend ScopeBuggy at,

http://www.scopebuggy.com/Gen3/UntitledH.html

I only know one person with a computer running Windows Vista, my oldest son, and he has had nothing but problems trying to run third party programs like Leapster and Fisher-Price.

I'm glad you found an application that makes your hobby fulfilling and enjoyable!

Hi Ron,

And I wish the same to you and your family as well!

I will be bringing in the new year getting estimates to fix my truck. I was waiting to turn into our apartment complex yesterday and the next thing I knew I was a couple drives down the road!

Yeah, I knew you didn't use a computer to control your scope. There is a Yahoo group, satellitetracker, where you might be able to get some help,
http://tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/satellitetracker/?v=1&t=directory&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=dir&slk=6. If you belong to any group that Dick Seymour belongs to he's always been pretty good about explaining how the process works and how best to set up a scope only to do it.

Ron,

From what I've read on some of the Yahoo groups by those chasing satellites it's necessarily the tracking speed that folks have a problem with, it's knowing when to start the tracking. From what I remember the GPS scopes can track up to 0.1 degrees per second and custom tracking rates can be varied by the user, but then I do not track satellites and I have a rusty brain!  What I do remember is that almost all of those who do track satellites have found out that doing so with the aid of a computer running a tracking program was almost crucial. Here's one of the most popular free ones, and a very good one too....according to the reviews anyway. It's called Nova for Windows.

http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=3717

Nice annimation Ron. I also see that Doc was able to observe the eclipse so it's nice to know that those who could see it would share. I'm beginning to think there is a curse on me, seems clouds follow me where ever I go lately!