Building a Planning Calendar with AI

From idea to calendar in one conversation

One of the most time-consuming parts of planning a year-long imaging project is the logistics: figuring out when each target is optimally positioned, what season favors what object type, and how to organize it all into something usable.

I didn't do this alone.

This calendar—all 25 objects, sorted chronologically, color-coded by difficulty, with transit times calculated for my specific location and imaging window—was built in a single conversation with Claude AI. What would have taken me hours of cross-referencing star charts, calculating transit times, and formatting tables took minutes.

I'm sharing the result here as a downloadable document. If you're imaging from light-polluted skies and want a starting framework for your own planning, feel free to adapt it. The methodology is simple: identify your imaging window, calculate when targets transit during that window, and build a schedule around the seasons.

AI didn't replace the thinking—it accelerated it. I described what I wanted, iterated on the details, and Claude handled the tedious parts. The result is a tool I'll actually use all year.

Clear skies,
Pete