2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results

So, plenty of folks showed up to take in the activities, I understand
someone managed 108 objects between the cloud banks, I know Rick
Tejera did 107. I know that Jack Jones will have the official
count at the club meeting.

I took some astro-images with the help of Al Steiwig, thanks again
Al. I will see how those turned out in daylight. We hooked up
Al’s Canon camera to my old Pentax thread lenses and got some
decent results.

I had a chance to walk around and chat with lots of folks, as
usual a fun bunch of people.

Including Don Machholz, one of the first Messier Marathoners.

Clear skies to us all;
Steve Coe

Here’s my personal account. I saw 105 Messier objects last night. It was one of my most challenging nights of observing.

I failed to see M74, but it was in the clear for a few minutes when it was dark enough, so maybe a larger aperture than 70mm would have pulled it in. In the early evening, it was apparent that the north was going to go away fast, so I worked on sweeping up all of the object of high declination through Ursa Major before even going after Orion through Puppis, where it was very clear. M33 was extremely difficult and fleeting, and I bet a lot of folks missed it. I wonder if anybody got M31 and its two companions. I had to wait until morning, when I failed to see it again.

I did all of my viewing at 18x in the Pronto, so some objects like M76 took real effort to detect. And some galaxies between clouds were tougher than I was expecting. All of the open clusters in Messier’s catalogue were beautimous in the little refractor.

At 10:20, it had cleared completely, and stayed good for a couple hours, when I was able to cruise through the galaxies in Virgo and Coma. At 11:00, I had 61 objects, and napped through 3:00, when I was greeted by more mostly cloudy. I took on the last dozen objects in a strange order, dictated entirely by local clearings. I managed to see M73 but not M72, doing the same for M55, while missing M75. I was able to get M72 and M75 just before twilight, and just barely.

I could believe that M30 also became visible at some point, but I was messing with M72 at the time and didn’t get to it. So I wound up with 105, missing M74, M31, M32, M110, and M30. Glad I made the trip, as it was an enjoyable night.

I hope some other observers had a chance to point the scope at the rising crescent moon, which looked great when the bands of clouds were passing in front of it.

Tom

The Andromeda trio & M33 were well behind clouds at this point. Cassiopeia was partially visible and I got M 52, but missed M 103. I later learned many folks had just the opposite problem. I also finished off the high Dec objects as that was were the cloud cover was heading. Next up was the southern winter objects.

I was able pick off everything through Leo by 2100. By now the sky looked like the roof was closing at BOB (Sorry, just can’t call it Chase Field yet). I took the opportunity to sit and chat with Steve Coe, Dave Fredericksen & several other folks while we waited for better conditions. An hour & a 1/2 later it looked like we would get a break as things were breaking up. And there were again stars in the sky. I then finished up the Virgo cluster & a few other eastern objects that had risen in to Hercules. By 2300 it was nap time. Got up at 0130, changed batteries in Polly (the ETX), realigned and got back to it. Easy pickings through Scorpius with the teapot of Sagittarius just rising. Now
it was wait for stuff to rise. This is were it got interesting.

As Tom mentioned previously you had to adapt your routine to the whims of the weather. More than once I went to an object when the sky was clear there only to have it cloud up by the time my eye made it to the eyepiece. Picked off a few objects as they rose. Saw M6 with the hills in the eyepiece. Grabbed M 103 on the upswing through a sucker hole. I got M73, and quickly slewed
up to M72. Caught sight of it just before it disappeared into the clouds for good. Just plain dumb luck. When the Andromeda trio rose high enough, I was able to see M 31 & M32, but M110 would elude me as we were now in increasing twilight. I did stop and look at the rising moon through the streaks of cloud on the way to M30, which was rather difficult. I finally called
it after several taps on the eyepiece showed the same slight brightening
at the same spot with averted vision three times.

My final tally was 107, missing M74, M110 & M33, which would not rise in the am until after Sunrise. Although 110 still eludes me, It was definitely a fun marathon. The challenge of seeing 107 in 60mm was definitely satisfying. But I think the best part was the large turnout of folks looking for a good time  under the sky. I spoke with many folks as they were turning in the sheets to Jack and they all thanked Sac for a great event. Glad we could oblige, I just wish AJ was there to enjoy it as well. It just wasn’t the same without him. I hope I did a credible job subbing for the pre-event briefing:)

Rick Tejera