[Starwatcher2001]

The remnents of the supernova that occurred in 1054 is known as the "Crab Nebula", AKA M1 on Messier's catalog.

I remember observing this from my back garden some 10 years ago with a small telescope, but that's quite difficult now due to light polution. It's getting hard for people to see stars in many big cities, let alone fainter objects.

[agrona]

There's a guide (in development) at eyesonthesky.com[1] aimed at newcomers, who may be using poor telescopes in poor atmospheric and lighting conditions. I've been following it quite successfully from my back yard in Seattle. It focuses on the brightest galaxies and nebulae, interesting clusters, and binary stars.

[1] http://eyesonthesky.com/StarCharts/FirstLightGuides.aspx