[AZ-Observing] 2005 All Arizona Messier Marathon - my unqualified recap
- From: "Michael Wiles" <mwiles@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <starrynights@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <obsessionusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:30:57 -0700
Once in awhile in this hobby known as amateur astronomy, the stars align
(pun intended) in such a way to remind you of all the reasons you took it up
in the first place. This year's All Arizona Messier Marathon was such an
event for me. Over the course of the last year, between the pressures of an
ever more successful business, normal family events, and unbelievably
non-astronomically friendly weather in Arizona, I had begun to refer to
myself as the Susan Lucci of amateur astronomers. Last nights event made it
worth the wait.
This year was extra special on a personal level. After waiting for nearly
14 years, one of my own children has recently been bitten by the astronomy
bug and my 8 year old daughter asked for the opportunity to come along to a
star party. After spending the night under the stars with my 15" Obsession,
a 4.5" Orion Starblast and a laser pointer together, she proclaimed the
night to be the most fun she's ever had with me. It was certainly
refreshing to see the night sky through the eyes of a first timer all over
again. Highlights of our session ;-):
* She noted an observation of an astronaut on the moon, looking
around for the ship that left him behind. She insisted that this was true
because she could see the footprints around him, and he was hiding next to
the flag. Even after explaining the reality to her, she insisted upon what
she saw, and I've been chuckling quietly since.
* I've been corrected on my planetary pronunciation, and I'm making
this public service announcement so that you can all get it right from here
on out as well. It is NOT pronounced Sat-Turn. It is correctly pronounced
Sat-Tur-In. Like all first time astronomers, she was smitten with the
beauty of Saturn in the eyepiece.
* On a more serious note, with a bit of guidance from the laser
pointer she joyfully discovered M42, M44, M45 and Mizar in the 4.5"
Newtonian.
* When observing M81 and M82 through the 15" Obsession together, she
immediately commented that M82 "was cut in half right through the middle
with dark lines. There's two dark lines cutting it in half right next to
the star in it." As any astronomy geek, I rightfully beemed proudly at such
an observation from an 8 year old.
While other star parties are much more famous (RTMC, Stellafane, TSP, et
al)..I'm amazed year after year at the number of people that are drawn to
this star party from great distances. This year's gathering included
several from California as well as Colorado, Michigan and Connecticut.
Toronto made an appearance, and perhaps the most dedicated attendee was
present from Edmonton, Alberta. I was happy that the conditions rewarded
these travelers with the type of night that make Arizona skies famous.
Overnight temperatures were cool, but bearable in the (estimated) mid 50's.
Cloud cover to the south dissipated almost immediately after sunset and
transparency was as excellent as I've seen in the 3 years since buying my
Obsession. Seeing was good for the most part, with moments of greatness,
and moments of mushiness mixed throughout. Around midnight, my own personal
observations noted a naked eye limiting magnitude of 6.8 near the zenith,
and a couple of 7.0 stars were suspected (but not confirmed) with averted
vision. Attendance was excellent from what I observed. A purely (and I
mean total guess) non-scientific estimate on my behalf put about 100 people
at the event.
My best observation of the evening was easily NGC 4565 through a home-built
dobsonian housing a 20" mirror crafted by the late Pierre Schwar. I never
got the opportunity to meet him, and had only looked at the sky one other
time through any of the mirrors that he'd made. At 110x with a 22mm
eyepiece, the galaxy was almost annoyingly bright with the dust lane very
obvious with direct vision. Pierre's mirror making skills are the stuff of
legend, and last night's look was the finest view of the galaxy that I've
ever had. His reputation is certainly deserved. Other notable
observations:
* Observing M81 at high power (190x) and using averted vision - the
wide sweeping spiral arm wrapping around the northern side was obvious. The
amount of detail (including the previously mentioned 'lines') in M82 kept me
locked onto it for almost 30 minutes.
* Also at 190x, the planetary nebula in M46 (aka NGC 2438) was
bright and obviously annular in appearance. I'd not noted the ring-like
look of this PN previously. An 11th magnitude star sits in the center of
the PN but I'm unsure if this is the central star, or a favorably positioned
member of the star cluster behind.
A look at my own observing logs shows that last night was the first time
I've been out under truly dark skies since the 2004 marathon on March 12th
of last year. If you were there, I hope you had half as much fun as I did.
If you weren't - start making plans for next year's marathon. I'm already
making my own plans to spend the entire weekend next year..and I may even
actually DO the marathon once.
Mike
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