I am privileged to be doing an observing run this week with Jimi Lowrey on his 48" along with Dragan Nikin and John Spack. Last night, 23-24 March, sky conditions were very good (compared to central Ohio) with transparency 7 to 8 (of 10) and seeing above average to average. Around 2:30AM CDT we made our second attempt at Hanny's Voorwerp. The previous night we had tried it but with seeing below average none of the four observers were able to report a positive observation. Using a ZAOII 10mm eyepiece at 488X with a Sloan G filter, the spiral galaxy IC2497 was visible constantly with direct vision. Another faint nearby LEDA galaxy was also visible, mostly with direct vision. Hanny's Voorwerp required averted vision and moments of excellent seeing to pop into view. When it did I saw a diffuse glow about half the size of IC2497 and extending nearly to the galaxy. Over a period of five minutes or so, it popped in and out over a half dozen times and staying visible a few of those times for 15 to 20 seconds. A difficult observation, but well worth the effort to become one of less than twenty people who have observed it visually.

Mark Friedman in Ft Davis, Texas