The Frugal Astronomer

Planning Tools - Get the Most Out of Your Observing Session

"If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for in the morning, sleep late."
- Henny Youngman

Once you know what you might see in the sky tonight, planning tools will help get the most out of your observing session.

Who needs the Weather Channel when Clear Sky Clock by Attilla Danko will predict sky conditions for the next 48 hours at a site of your choice. Hundreds of site all over North America are available plus you can create your own. Predictions include cloud cover, seeing and transparency. The predictions are very reliable and are invaluable for anticipating what the sky will be like tonight.

Clear Sky Alarm Clock by Mark Casazza delivers clear sky alerts by email based upon Clear Sky Clock's predictions. There's nothing better to perk up your day than to get an email at work predicting clear skies tonight.

Tonight's Sky, another website by Mark Casazza, will provide a list of visible objects based for the time and location that you specify. Objects can be screened by magnitude and type: planet, comet, asteroid, double star, galaxy, nebula, cluster and star group.

Astroplanner by iLanga, Inc. is my favorite program for selecting objects and planning observing sessions. It's feature list is huge and includes many searchable object catalogs, charting, obesrvation logging, telescope control and scripting. A free version is availble with some restrictions like limited catalogs. It's US$35 registration fee is worth every penny.

Looking for a dark sky site near home or while on vacation, check out Observing Sites.com, which has directions to dark sky sites all over North America.

Amateur Astronomy magazine maintains an online list of star parties including some in the UK and downunder. Keira Knightly won't be there, but you might meet some other cool people at a star party. They often include swap meets and vendor tables where you can get equipment at a discount, or even free if you win a door prize.

Michael G. Wright is The Frugal Astronomer. Please send questions and feedback to

Disclaimer: The Frugal Astronomer has no vested interest in any tools or resources listed on this site, and has not received any compensation for listing them. This site is supported by Google Ads. The Frugal Astronomer has no control over the ads displayed above. He does not endorse any product or service advertised through Google Ads unless specifically stated in the website content.