[AZ-Observing] Observing large #s of objects in one night

Following up on the thread of "Herschel 400 Awards in Arizona" and 
observing large numbers of AL Herschel objects in a single night, I just 
wanted to point out Don Machholz's article along these lines that appeared 
in the March, 1982 issue of Deep Sky Monthly, titled "The Massive 
Marathon".  (This appears just after my lead article in that issue on the 
Messier Marathon).  Don describes extending the Messier Marathon to his 
observing 599 deep sky objects in a single night.  This was done over 
about 8 1/2 hours on April 3-4, 1981.  I don't think I would ever attempt 
something like this, but just wanted to point out it has been done.  The 
main advantages I can see (similar to those of the Messier Marathon and as 
I discuss in my article there) is the improvement this activity might 
provide to one's observing skills, and more importantly the chance to 
compare observations of large numbers of objects in a single night.  As 
others have indicated here this does not leave much time for taking notes. 
 However in my experience  (e.g. during a Messier marathon) it is possible 
to observe good numbers of objects and still take some pretty useful short 
notes.

- Brent Archinal

--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.

Other related posts: