Cougar,

I searched on Ebay, didn't find anything nearly that big. However, thanks to my local Harbor Freight store, I scored a pair of 7x50 binoculars to get me started.

I am glad I started with something cheap, because after an hour of gazing at anything/everything in the sky, it became quickly apparent that my next investment would be tripod-ready. I have a heavy duty Bogen photo tripod, it is terribly overbuilt and I have used it for video cameras that 15 years ago weighed about 15 pounds. It was steady for that, I think it will serve the purpose, at least to start off.

Thanks to all for your advice,
Michael