Hi Kurt, I take a LOT of heat for my attitude these days, but I've always just used a hand-written list when I've planned my observational time that tightly. The hunt is a big part of the attraction, and using my own scope, I rarely take more than a minute, two tops, to find my target-if it's visible at all- there is no drudgery involved. Can take longer with an unfamiliar instrument, but those times are very rare. Obviously if hunting down a faint extragalactic supernova, a digital advantage shouldn't be dismissed lightly, but there are few exceptions really; as far as my personal inclinations go. I've seen constellations change outline from naked-eye novae...the telescopic ones almost never make it onto my list. Having learned to navigate the sky in the pre-digital age does have its advantages (this summer marks my 37th year of astronomical telescope use); I'm sure Brent will agree with me. --- Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
But, seriously, hasn't observational planning software IMHO and GOTO has taken some of the time consuming drudgery out of it?
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