Last night (Saturday, May 6) I managed to get out for the 3rd time
this week! It was quite cloudy through the evening hours but the
satellite radar showed a thinning spot headed our way (Holmen, WI). I
stepped out at around 9:30pm(?) and sure enough I could see stars! By
the way, my favorite new tool is the radar display at weather.com. If
you scroll way down to the satellite picture, click on it, then select
'Clouds & Radar', then select the play button, you can see what's
going on. But the most useful thing is that you can zoom out to see a
very wide area trend, so you can better tell what's headed your way.

At any rate, I've been trying out 2 new observing aids (in addition to
the pickle-jar-lid focuser). I've found that I prefer to use the hand
controller in my lap, but it kept sliding off and banging into the
tripod or battery supply. I just happened to have reflective velcroed
straps that are used for holding your pants legs from getting into a
bicycle chain. The two of them daisy-chained will reach around my
thigh, and with a patch of velcro on the controller, it stays put.
Unfortunately, the strap tends to slide down when you stand up to
reposition.

The second thing is something I based on an ad in Sky at Night
magazine. I puchased a 60in by 48in piece of gaberdine (the heavier
polyester version at Hancock Fabrick), cut a horizontal slit for the
eyepiece and focus knob, and voila, no problem from the neighbors
lights (at least at the eyepiece)! Don't know what the neighbors
would think if they saw me in the back yard with a black sheet over my
head though.

Okay, but what about the view? Earlier this week, before a very
bright moon arose, I surfed the Messier objects in Virgo. Mostly
fuzzy blobs but I could make out differences in all but one. I'm very
impressed with what you can see even in non-optimal seeing conditions.
I've been inspired by the likes of Dean Johnson, who I swear must go
out even when it's 98 percent cloudy! Last night I saw the best shape
yet to M81 and M82. The gaberdine shroud really helps to keep your
dark vision. Oh, and the new Panoptic helps a little too. ;-)

Hey Red, now that I've used AstroPlanner a little, could I get a
tutorial from you sometime? Maybe that could be a club meeting demo
if everyone is interested.

Good Seeing,

Mike R.
8" SCT (Celestron CPC 800 XLT)