[AZ-Observing] Messier Marathon
- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <amastro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 15:48:29 -0700
Howdy all;
We had a very fun Messier Marathon in central Arizona, near the town
of Casa Grande, between Phoenix and Tucson. There were 20 vehicles
on Friday night and 66 for the Saturday night marathon. The clouds
stayed away and we had a good, clear night. I rated the transparency
at 7 out of 10. Once the Summer Milky Way was above the horizon, it
was excellent. The seeing was mediocre, I gave it a 5.
I used my brand new Orion 8X42 binoculars for the marathon and I am
very pleased with their performance. Nice contrasty views and
excellent eye relief make them a very comfortable pair of binocs.
The views up and down the Milky Way were excellent. Lagoon, Trifid,
Sagittarius Star Cloud and Scutum were beautiful sparkling star
fields with dark lanes winding through them. I managed to view 82
objects with the binocs and I am happy with that result. Our Messier
Marathon chairman give a certificate at 50 objects, so I do get
something to tack on my office wall.
I also walked around and visited and observed with several folks. I
got a great view of M 101 in a 20 inch Obsession with a 27 mm
Panoptic eyepiece. Lots of detail and mottling in the arms. Mike
Spooner's 18 inch f/5 showed off M 104 very nicely, the dark lane
stretched across the galaxy and the bright core rested on "top" of
the dark lane. Rick Scott's 9 inch Laurie-Houghton provided a
terrific view of M 6 with lots of stars in beautiful, curved chains
at 100X. I spent nearly an hour with a gentleman whose name has escaped me, we
looked at a variety of objects and got very nice, sharp views in his refractor.
All in all, a memorable and fun weekend;
Steve Coe Saguaro Astronomy Club
stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx
Author: Deep Sky Observing--The Astronomical Tourist
Saguaro Astronomy Club web site:
www.saguaroastro.org
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