“I recently got a modest telescope, not real powerful, but its enough to see Jupiter’s four largest moons.”
I don’t know how large your telescope is or if it has a guidance system, but IMO these are some easy, low-investment suggestions to take a look at:
1. Saturn (now)
2. The Orion Nebula (winter)
3. The Ring Nebula (not hard to find and almost “straight up” in summer)
4. You can hardly avoid things to look at in Sagittarius, too bad it’s low in the south in almost all of the US and doesn’t stay “up” very long in the summer
5. The Andromeda Galaxy (fall)
6. M13 Globular cluster (fall)
I am steadfastly avoiding a “go-to” telescope, because “that’s cheating”.
I thought that I might be interested in digital astrophotography but it’s been done and it is a big financial and time investment to take “really good” images.
There are really no substitutes for a dark sky (get out of the city) and night vision (read about how to prepare and maintain night vision when doing astronomy).
I have avoided “inchitis” disease with my telescopes. This is like “footitis” disease in boating except it’s actually much, much more expensive.
“I am steadfastly avoiding a “go-to” telescope, because “that’s cheating”.”
It’s a moral outrage actually.
GOTO is ok for photography, otherwise, you’re not observing, you’re just looking.
I can pretty much find all of the Messier objects from memory, why would I want to do it any other way?
As for Venus and Jupiter, give it a few more nights. They are getting closer and closer.
Thanks for the tips!