After the moon and bright planets, I can’t find anything else in my telescope. Why?

You need to know where to look! One of the first things you should do is get familiar with the night sky without a telescope, and especially without a computerized telescope. We call this "low-tech" observing.

Learning your way around the night sky is like learning your way around the city from a street map. First you learn the highways and main streets, then you learn the side streets and where specific locations have what entertainment or restaurants you like. This way you can go back to them at other times without having to look up how to get there. In astronomy, eventually, you'll know the seasonal constellations and objects within them by where they reside near one another. You'll learn the roadmap of the night sky. Stick with it. Amatuer astronomy is a lifelong hobby. You have time.

The visible constellations and planets changes over the course of a month and throughout the year, so start with the most obvious and brightest things you can make out and explore them and their surrounding objects. Find out about those objects and then move on from there. Don't try to learn it all at once. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Our club holds Novice Night events specifically to teach our members that are new to the hobby how to use their equipment and learn the night sky. But you can start by checking out some of these resources we recommend.

A star chart or planisphere will help you pinpoint the specific area in the sky you need. A zero power (straight-thru) finder such as a Telrad or Red Dot Finder will help you point your scope to that exact spot. A low power eyepiece will give you a bigger field of view for easier locating. There are also several great books for beginning astronomers. One of the best to start with is Turn Left at Orion by by Guy Consolmagno and Dan M. Davis.