So, you want to go StarGazing...
    -   First, check your pollen counts, weather forecast & Sky_Transparency
    -   Then see if the moon is going to be too bright to see anything
    -   Check on your local SunRise/Set and Astronomical Twilight Times.
IF this checklist is OK
Then set your watch to the precise time & check the map to your destination,
so you won't get lost trekking out in the boonies.
...   and get out there and Observe!!
But... if this is not going to be a good observing night...
enjoy the links below, to better plan your next session ...

Opinion:
Everyone with a new interest in astronomy wants a telescope to view all
the pretty things up in the sky. It is humbling to realize that amateur
astronomy is a lot like hunting and fishing. It is the hunt that
is facinating, not the kill, (why do you hear so many stories
about... "the one that got away",   -they apply to astronomy also )
Astro-Objects do not just sit there waiting on you to look at them...
you must know what you are looking for... and then you must find them...
and know for sure that you actually have seen them.
So, please be careful to not rush too quickly to buy a telescope,
before you understand how it is used and how various scopes are used.
[It is hard to go deer hunting with that new rod & reel]
Attend a local science museum or planetarium [List], ask about an astronomy
club and participate in their next Star Party, to see how they use
their equipment and view different objects thru various instruments.
            -Clear Skies
 

http://www.SpaceWeather.com/ NASA site that features SunSpots, Aurora-Alerts, Comets & Close-approach asteroids. Solar-Astronomy & Ham-SW-reception http://www.SkyMaps.com/downloads.html http://www.MidnightKite.com/starcharts.html http://www.Asahi-net.or.jp/ SkyMaps Provides a really nice map of the sky for the current month (N & S hemisphere, he's an Aussie) retrieve/save/print these each month... they provide a nice list of things to look for with 1)Eye, 2)Bino & 3)SmallScope   categories. SFA's Dan Bruton provides a 4-page printable (.pdf) Atlas Japan: T.Taki provides a 12-page printable (.pdf) Atlas http://www.JB.man.ac.uk/almanac/ Astronomers use a computed almanac to determine exactly where an object will be in the sky on a given date/time from a specific location. When available, a computer-almanac is preferred. The classic reference is the annual USNO Ast-Almanac. See the RASC annual Handbook (below) for amateur needs. http://APoD.nasa.gov/ a presentation (new one each day, since Jun 1995) of some interesting astro-space image. usually research/Hubble-grade, sometimes amateur, but give excellent views & detail of something... has a good 'calendar' feature to locate prior photos... take a look at 08Nov1999 of the moon... http://www.LPoD.org/ has a Lunar Photo each day. http://Heritage.STSCI.edu/   the "Best of the Hubble Telescope"   chosen (one per month?) as a 'pretty space photo'. http://www.aao.gov.au/images.html/general/favorites.html   Favorite-Fifty-Fotos from Down Under http://www.TheNakedSky.com/ a basic and straight-forward one-page "what to look for" this month. Send the author an Email-thank-you note to encourage continuing to provide it... http://SkyAndTelescope.com/observing/skychart/ an OnLine Star Chart that runs in your browser set your location (by Country-City or Lat-Long) change Date/Time and see   WaaaSsupp ! http://SkyAndTelescope.com/news/ A popular amateur astronomy magazine Sky & Telescope provides a weekly astro-space news column (many other resources, too). It can be viewed online and there is an Email-subscription option. http://Comets.AMSmeteors.org/ Comets are known as Dirty-SnowBalls and can come visit our inner-solar-system from the cold-dark areas beyond the planets. Gary Kronk is currently writing a Comet Encyclopedia with everything we know about comets and prior visits. http://www.LunarRepublic.com/atlas/ http://www.Google.com/moon/> An OnLine Photographic Lunar Atlas http://Cmex-www.arc.NASA.gov/Atlas96/Atlas96.htm http://Mars.Google.com/ An OnLine Photographic Mars Atlas http://www.MrEclipse.com/ basically a NASA site as MrEclipse ( Fred Espanak) is the renowned Solar-Eclipse chaser for NASA... http://www.CurrentSky.com/ a basic 'what to look at' web-site. PDA friendly http://www.SolarViews.com/eng/homepage.htm good overview of PLANETARY-astronomy and a section of History-People learn the constellations: http://www.StarShine.com/frankn/astronomy/constellations.asp http://www.AllTheSky.com/ http://www.AstronomyBoy.com/constellations/ http://www.PhotosByThad.com/ a photographer with an interesting Night-Photography style, and some really nice Astro-Photos in his collection http://Groups.Yahoo.com/group/digital_astro/ AstroPhotography is an interesting and rewarding hobby... these days, to start, anyone should consider Digital instead of film... there are many advantages of each. http://dir.Yahoo.com/science/astronomy/ see 'astronomers' section for some Bio's and brief summaries of noted historical astronomers work. other sections give good variety/overview topics. http://www.StarDate.org/resources/ssguide/ http://www.StarDate.org/resources/btss/ the UTexas Astro dept has an interesting online guide for the SolarSystem and Galaxies. ( guías en español, tambien ) http://www.AstroRED.org/ http://www.Astro.Indiana.edu/startrak.shtml http://www.Astro.Indiana.edu/startrak_spanish.shtml British Astronomy Links http://www.PopAstro.com/home.htm http://www.ROG.NMM.ac.uk/ http://www.AstronomyNow.com/ parlez-vous français? http://www.Planetarium.Montreal.qc.ca/ sprechen Sie Deutsch? http://www.NAA.net/ http://www.WonderPlanets.de/ http://www.AstronomyNotes.com/ A basic astronomy-text-book online and a couple that go a little deeper... http://Zebu.UOregon.edu/text.html http://www.Astronautix.com/ http://www.NationalGeographic.com/stars/chart/index.html A "good" sky atlas online is hard to find. this one is just fine... for starters. or you can select Location/Time and generate a SkyView http://www.MyStarsLive.com/ ( easy to download/install/use ShareWare version, too ) http://www.Heavens-Above.com/ an online astrometry resource. locate objects in the sky from your observing site http://LiftOff.MSFC.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/Spacecraft.html NASA site for tracking major satellites and the shuttle (when UP) see the current location of: HST, ISS, Chandra and StarShine http://www.TexasStarParty.org/   The Texas Star Party meets each Apr/May near Ft.Davis a week-long star-watching convention of some 650+ astro-wannabees. No experience necessary. Plan to make reservations by late Jan, as it fills up. http://www.AstroMax.org/astrocourse/history.htm an excellent 'Observing Programs' for various astro-interests. Site has links to many good beginner pages. http://www.seds.org/Messier/ When you step outside and look at the sky, you see stars. With a binocular or a modest telescope with DARK-skies and knowing where and when to look... you begin to see: Emission Nebulae, Planetary Nebulae, Open clusters, Globular clusters and distant Galaxies. These are what were found by Charles Messier back in ~1770+... he was a comet-hunter and was distracted by comet-like objects that did not move through the sky from night to night and he made a list of the fuzzies that he found... they are the prettiest variety of beginning deep sky objects... This link provides a list of the Messier Objects, and what type it is and... a picture... http://www.SupplementWatch.com/suplib/supplement.asp?DocId=1043 Night Vision: in the dark of a moonless night, the "cones" (color) on your retina are not receiving enough light to function, the "rods" (light) receive the faint ambient light and twinkle from the stars as just (White) light. The ability of the eye to adjust and function in the low-light conditions can easily affect your enjoyment of astronomy. It can easily take 20-30 minutes for the eye to adjust to the dark and just a moment of "white-light" will re-start the adjustment (see Red Lights, below). Knowledge of the internals of the eye are beyond my knowledge, but I recently heard that a component of "Blue Berries", called anthocyanin, is helpful to the eye for dark adjustment. So, eat your Blue-Berry Muffin or add berries to your cereal for breakfast. Or check your drug-store "vitamins" for 'BilBerry Extract'. I found 1 gram, 60-softgel Rexall bottle at Walmart for about $3.60, about a nickel per capsule... one or two per day. After I've consumed a couple bottles and have some reason to assess any affect, I'll mention it here. ... usual common sense cautions are in effect for self-prescribing herbs and vitamins. http://www.SquidLight.com/ http://www.TadGear.com/ Glo-Toob™ http://www.9VoltLight.com/ http://www.GerberBlades.com/ http://www.CFRlights.com/ http://www.MagLite.com/ http://www.RigelSys.com/ When you are out observing and your eyes have adapted to the dark night and you try to consult your almanac, atlas or notes, you need to have a RED light. MagLite has their 2xAAA & 2xAAA lights with red-filters. MagLite is supposed to be working on LED lights for later in 2003. Gerber(CMG) has their Infinity in White or RED LED CFR is a good source for Gerber(CMG) lights. Rigel has a variable-brightness-dual-RED-LED light. http://www.pa.MSU.edu/abrams/SkyCalendar/     $11/year This is a monthly (3 per mailing) Sky Calendar of what to look for during the month, mostly naked-eye or maybe using binoculars. http://www.ShopAtAky.com/   Atlases, Maps & Globes Pocket Sky Atlas $20   Item#59317 An excellent and convenient all-sky Star-Chart/Atlas. http://www.WillBell.com/atlas/atlas1.htm     $10 a must have Sky/Star road map. Learn to read a Map & Chart from S&T or R.Bell http://www.RASC.ca/publications/ Observer's Handbook 2008   $32 Observer's WallCalendar 2008   $20 the HandBook (100thEd.) is GREAT... I have each issue, since about '81... It is a thorough reference for going out to look at the skies... The wall-calendar is really nice. Available in September. http://www.ScientificsOnline.com/ $250 Edmund Scientifics in New Jersey has an excellent pair of Fujinon 7x50 Individual-Eyepiece-Focus binoculars at a great price. Search for SKU CR30534-59. A good pair of binoculars are always handy to check some area of the sky for details, and they can be easily used for other activities, unlike an Astro-Telescope. NOTE: these binoculars are Nitrogen-Filled, so, do NOT let any of your friends try to un-screw the objectives for a closer inspection, no matter how much they claim to know about binocular optics.