Nice job on the article, Mike.
Always wanted a telescope but never got one, I was always into too many things at once.

Seen many photos of the Milkyway but never saw it in real life, not even in the mountains of Colorado.
Star Viewing in Conn. kind of sucks...too much light pollution, however, if I should get up during the night and look out the Master bath sky light to the north...I am always amazed at how clear the stars are. Good viewing of the Big and Little Dippers.

https://www.space.com/39208-super-blu...
The best viewing of the eclipse is in the Pacific.
Partial through much of the mainland USA

A Blue Moon is when two full moons happen in the same calendar month; lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth's shadow; and supermoons happen when the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit — coincides with a full moon. In this case, the supermoon

In the "Michigan Meteorite" thread, nickursis mentioned owning a 6-inch Meade and a pair of 10x60 Barska binoculars. In the article linked above, I talk about my Celestron 130 mm (5.25-inch) reflector. A few weeks after I wrote that, I bought a 70 mm (2-3/4 inch) National Geographic brand refractor. The eyepieces I have fit both. The refractor is a bit more powerful (main focal length divided by eyepiece focal length), but, of course, the reflector gathers more light.

My best viewing overall is with the 32mm eyepiece coupled to a 2x Barlow lens. It gives enough power (20x or 40x) and a wide enough field of view for good resolution.

With the Celestron, I originally had a power drive mount to keep the telescope on target as the Earth turns, but after a little reading, I returned it unopened and bought a set of eyepieces ("oculars" ahem) and filters. The filters don't do much for me. I mean in theory, this one cuts sundown haze to make Venus stand out and that one makes the bands of Jupiter stand out. But, they all just sort of color the view to no great advantage. But the lenses are nice. I do have an 8 mm and a 6 mm for limits of 81x to 200x (with the Barlow), but, resolution degrades; and for me, pretty much the 10mm (65x or 130x) is enough for the Moon, the Orion Nebula, and everything in between.

(The little refractor will go to 70x or 140x, a bit better. The problem with the Nat G is that it is a kid's instrument from a big box store, so all of the value is in the optics. My GI Joes are better made than the mount and tripod. So, there's always trade-offs...)

I was in the local astronomy club for a couple of years. I have been out for a couple of years. On two different star party nights, one of the guides showed me how to find Albireo, a stunning double star yellow and blue at the head of the Swan (or foot of the Cross).