... towel over your head to block stray light ... seriously ... as stupid as it sounds (and the neighbors will stare) it makes a huge difference ...
... for finding them ... a Telrad and wide-angle finder ... the Telrad gets you close ... the finder gets you closer (and covers a wider area of sky than your scope) ... and the scope will hit you dead-on ... you can also already have a higher power EP in the scope this way, so less fiddling around once you hit your target (and less risk of losing the target between EP swaps) ...
... now ... with all that said ... better viewing generally means better conditions for viewing, and getting the best gear you can afford ... even a moderate scope can perform very well with a good star diagonal (rather than the "economy model") and some good EPs (rather than the "economy models") ... some EPs are even designed specifically for planetary viewing (though make absolute certain they will work with your longer focal length Dobsonian ... some EPs works best with faster scope, and other work better with "slower" scopes ... just make sure you check into them before you get some ... yeah ... I have made this mistake already) ...
... oh yeah ... better conditions ... check out the Clear Sky website and find one near you that you can use to help know "when" to optimize your chances for the best viewing conditions ...
.... (no guarantees implied nor guaranteed, observation times subject to change without prior notice and may be affected by unpredicted weather or additional nearby lighting conditions, "white-lighting" yourself with the flashlight voids any eye adaption, computers (even on dim and with rubylith covers) will still ruin your "night-eyes", kitchen lights and street lights will ruin your vision even if viewed for a second and viewed even out of the corner of your eye) .... | 
05-02-2009, 04:53 AM
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