Okay...back on topic.

Hi Rets....The 4.5 will do you pretty good.You may want to look into a
couple of observing books to find some objects. One of my new
favorites is the "The Night Sky Observers Guide Vol 1&2" They're a
little pricey but have a lot of info in them. It breaks down each
constalation and gives a description of it's origin then goes into sub
charts of DSO's and such. It also has sketches of what the objects
look like through a scope. Unfortunately the sketches are mostly done
with scopes of 8" and up. It still has a lot of info. Another good
investment would be a Broadband filter..Orion has one for $59.95 or
Lumicon (my personal choice) has one for $99. This will help you
combat the NYC light polution. I'm over in NJ and belong to the NJAA.
We have public nights evey Saturday from 8-10:30PM. It's probably
about an hour and a half away from you but the sky's are pretty dark
compared to NYC. Here's our web address.
www.njaa.org

Joe