[AZ-Observing] Re: Marathon: Early Report
- From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:33:31 -0700
IT was truly one of the more challenging marathons I've done. To start
things off on the wrong foot, my Telrad on Gert (the 8") broke, one of the
collimation screws broke off. Not sure how or when but that was quite a rude
surprise. It took me quite a while trying to find two decent alignment stars
while the cloud are creeping in on M74 & co. I thought I had finally gotten
a decent alignment on the Sky Commander but Nooooo. I punched up M42 just to
check the alignment and it was pointing me about 25 degrees off, somewhere
in Eridanus. Tried again, same result. Much silent cursing ensued. Finally
just shut the whole thing down and aligned the Meade ETX 60, which I used
exclusively for the rest of the night. Like Tom, 60mm was probably just not
enough aperture to pull in M74. M77 was tough, but it was there. 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 pickens through
Scorpius with the teapot of Sagittarius just rising. Now it was wait for r
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 r 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 definately a fun marathon. Te
challenge of seeing 107 in 60mm was definatley 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:)
Off to sleep with me.
Rick Tejera
President
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
saguaroastro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Polakis
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 9:53 AM
To: AZ-Observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Marathon: Early Report
The night turned out to be about 75% cloudy, but that didn't stop quite a
few of us from running the marathon. Somebody counted 110 or so vehicles,
which isn't bad for such an obviously murky night. I heard a couple reports
of 107, but no perfect scores yet. I would not be dubious, though, as
somebody could have looked at M74 or M30 at the right instant as it passed
between clouds.
Here's my personal account. I saw 105 Messier objects last night. It was
one my the 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 Messiers 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
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please
send personal replies to the author, not the list.
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please
send personal replies to the author, not the list.
Other related posts:
