April Showers? or Wind

Seems more like March today as I write this. Supposed to storm (april showers) tomorrow though. The wind today was atrocious. Last night I tried what is called a Messier Marathon. Charles Messier created a list of 109 objects that are popular with all observers. March 15th is the ideal time to catch all objects from dusk to daylight. But I tried to image each object with a computerized telescope (go to) but even that wasnt good enough as mother nature tried to blow us off the field about 4:00 am. With about 70 images acquired. Of course when I say 70 that means 10 exposures with the camera with the shutter open for 15 sec. each. So it does take some time, for each. Thats basically 700 images. Anyway, it was the best night probably of the year, so far. And I want to thank Steve Davis, Tammy Flippen and John Moody, probably one of the best amateur imagers in this area. http://panthercreekastro.mysite.com/index.html for their help and support. I am not that good as I am still learning (slowly). lol
April the night sky:

April 23--1:00 am till dawn the Lyrid meteor shower. unfortunately the moon will be up also, but if you can find a tree or something to block the moon, think shadow, the shower should be fairly good. At least warmer, they will originate from the constellation Lyra so look for Vega, brightest star overhead. Good luck.

April 30, early in the month if you are up at or before dawn, you can see the crescent moon just above very bright Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. But a telescope or binocs will be necessary for most. Venus will be 87% full and very bright.

So, not much exciting for visual observers, but as I always tell you, it doesnt cost much to get involved with a little help, you could show your kids the rings of Saturn or the moons of Jupiter this month. Not sure of the date, but the Springfield Astronomy Club will have an outreach just before our big launch party/fundraiser in Branson, so come visit, and talk to some of the members and we can help you out.

The Planetarium project is moving along, and I hope everybody will consider supporting us, and donating if possible. We are also looking for some board members from the Branson area. All we need is the support of the community, and we can make this happen.

Keep Looking Up
Larry