[AZ-Observing] Re: Messier Marathon - draft list

What an exciting event this was for me, it was my first attempt at the
Messier Marathon and I'm still a little stunned to see my name in the top of
the list.

Larry Brown and I each used 12" LX200GPS scopes and mostly a 31mm Nagler
eyepiece.  Since we had nearly identical setups it was easy to compare views
to make sure we really had the right object, and we also used the Ken
Graun's and Steven O'Meara's books to help identify fields.  Obviously the
Go-To pointing gave us a big advantage, and I freely admit that I could not
have found that many objects even if the sky had been perfectly clear the
whole night.  I hope that someday in the future I will have the observing
skills of many of the other folks out there who were finding the objects
without the aid of a computer - I have the utmost respect for you guys.
Either way, it's great fun to observe the Messier objects.

For many of the objects we watched clouds for several minutes or more,
waiting for the short clearings.  We did not take any significant break for
the entire night, although we did find enough spare time to briefly observe
a few of the planets (Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, and Neptune).  Don
Machholz reminded everyone that all 9 planets would be observable, I wonder
if anyone was able to accomplish that feat.

At times it seemed like the clouds were going to completely take over and we
were working under a little more pressure, and at other times it almost
seemed as if the skies were going to clear up entirely.

We caught most of the Sagittarius objects soon after they cleared the
Eastern horizon.  One of the toughest objects for us was M52 - I think we
spent the better part of an hour waiting for clouds to allow us a peek at
that one.  We lucked out with a view of M31 and M32 very shortly after they
rose in the early morning (there was no way to catch them in the evening) -
a short time later, while still trying to find M110, I slewed back to M31
only to find thick clouds.  Although there was a point of light visible in
the appropriate location when searching for M110, it was not resolvable as
anything more so we did not claim it as seen.  We also learned a valuable
lesson, do not park your vehicle due East of your scope, or you risk losing
your chance to observe certain objects!  I almost didn't get to log M30 for
that reason, but I did manage to catch it after it rose enough to clear the
trailer.  Ten minutes later it would probably have been too late.

This sure was a fun event.  I was able to get my copy of the MM book signed
by Don, who also strolled around and handed out bags of "M&M's" candies on
Saturday afternoon.  The T-shirts are awesome.  I met a bunch of other
friendly amateur astronomers (are there any other kind?) and got to see some
cool equipment.  My thanks go out to those who do all the work to put this
event on, and I sure hope to see everyone out there again next year.

Clear Skies,

Keith Schlottman 



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