[AZ-Observing] The 2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon report

From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 21:47:28 -0700
The 2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon Report
 

Well the 2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon is in the books. As in the past
several years the event was held at the Salome Emergency Airfield off
Hovatter Rd., 100 miles west of Phoenix. As usual, many folks arrived on
Friday to enjoy an extra day of observing and camaraderie. I arrived about
noon on Friday to find the airfield already well populated by tents &
campers & RV's & of course, telescopes. By sunset, I estimated about 45
vehicles and 60ish observers. The sky was clear of clouds but the dust in
the air from recent winds a few days earlier had not settled, so the
transparency was not the best. Still it was good enough to get some
observing in. Most folks observed well past midnight, some working their
observing lists, others practicing for the Marathon. Either way, it was all
good.

Saturday dawned and as luck would have it, while I had gone into Blythe to
get a real breakfast, I found that an intrepid pilot had landed his small
homebuilt plane on the north end of the north south runway. He just did a
touch & go and didn't stop to finds out what all people were doing there. I
wonder what he thought.. Seems I always miss these things, years ago another
plane landed at Farnsworth Ranch in Arizona City in one of the few marathons
I missed. 

As the afternoon progressed, Jennifer Polakis & Lori Prause, aided by their
sous chefs Tom & Mitch, set up for what I hope will become an AAMM
tradition, a Community Dinner. We all gathered at 1700 for nice meal of hero
sandwich, Fruit, Chips, Drick & Cake. I believe we had about 75-80 folks
join in for the dinner. The meal was quite filling and an enjoyable way to
socialize. While finishing up, I conducted a little trivia Q&A, or was it
A&Q, (since I did it Jeopardy Style J). After the quiz, we held a raffle
with some nice prizes generously donated by Lowell
observatory(http://www.lowell.edu/visit.php), photon instruments
(http://www.photoninstrument.com ), SAC (www.saguaroastro.org) & Starizona
(www.starizona.com ). Please be sure to support these generous donors when
you feel the need to spend your disposable income.

And please also give thanks to Jennifer & Lori for their hard work to put
the dinner together. Their efforts were well appreciated by all who partook.

So, once done with & the raffle, it was time for the twilight pep talk. This
year we had the usual contingents from SAC & EVAC. Also joining us was a
group from the NAU Astronomy Club in Flagstaff, Several observers from
Tucson & Lake Havasu City. We also had a few out of staters, Overland Park,
KS and it was great to have back with us after a few years absence, Don
Machholz, from Colfax, CA. As most of you know, Don, in addition to
discovering 11 comets, was one of the pioneers of this astronomical version
of March madness. I've always considered it a privilege & honor to have Don
observe with us. Our furthest traveled was Tim Foerster, who resides in
Tegernsee, Germany. Tim is an exchange Student who came out with his host
family. Also notable, was our youngest ever observer, Molly Wiesse at 8
years old. Molly also helped out by pulling the winning raffle tickets. It's
alwayS good to see some young blood in the hobby. Hopefully, Molly will join
us for many years to come. 

So, twilight talk done, it was time to get down to business. Unfortunately,
Mother Nature was, as a friend of mine puts it, "off her meds". As twilight
deepened, the clouds rolled in, rendering the evening early setters
unattainable. The sky was open above, but the thin clouds & dust made for
difficult, if not uninspired views of our targets. By midnight, as usual
most observers, who turned in sheets, had gotten all there was to get. It's
is around this time, the Snack table, sponsored by EVAC and provided by
Claude Haynes got busy with folks looking for a quick pick me up or more
likely a quick warm me up. I, like most, took a nap at this point. Upon
waking at 0200, found the sky pretty much a solid overcast, with the glow of
Aurora Phoenicia readily apparent in the east. I pretty much figured that by
the time the objects yet to be seen rose high enough to have chance to be
seen, it would be daylight, so I went back to bed. I was not alone in that
assumption. 

When all was said and done 27 observers turned in  observing sheets and one
Photographic marathon sheet was turned in. The results are not yet official,
but it look like our top observer this year was Rosie Dodder, who managed to
see 80 objects. Most observers saw numbers in the 60's. the official results
will be posted to the SAC website & the All Arizona Messier Marathon
facebook page soon.

While some may think the event was not a successful due to the weather, I
would beg to differ. The All Arizona messier Marathon is more than just an
observing event, It is a social event as well. We draw in astronomers from
all over for a weekend of Camaraderie & fellowship with some telescoping
thrown in for good measure. I got to see some folks I haven't seen in quite
a while and it was good to catch up and see they are doing well. It was also
nice to get away from the daily routine for a few days and enjoy the passion
of astronomy. I'm already looking forward to next year, are you?

 

Clear Skies

Rick Tejera

2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon Coordinator    

     

 

 

 

Rick Tejera

Saguaro Astronomy Club

www.saguaroastro.org

Thunderbird Amateur radio Club (K7TEJ)

www.w7tbc.org

 



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[AZ-Observing] The 2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon report

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