"Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it." Andromeda, M42, star clusters, can all be seen with the naked eye, but

"Even with a telescope your human eyes are limited to planets and the moon, that's it." Andromeda, M42, star clusters, can all be seen with the naked eye, but only from a dark location, and unfortunately not in most cities. I've seen scores of galaxies with just a 8.75" reflector. The virgo cluster that's available at this time of year is amazing. I agree with most of the rest of your post though, especially the weight thing. I'd also suggest that learning to star-hop from one object to another is a great way to learn the sky, but it does put newcomers off sometimes.