Date: May 15, 2006 From: Don Machholz Subject: Don Machholz Messier Marathon Results 2006 Greetings Hartmut; I hope this finds all well. I did three Messier Marathons in late March 2006. For each I used my 6" (15cm) reflector, f/8, at about 38x, using a 2" eyepiece pressed over the 1.25" focuser. On each night I also found all objects from memory again, beginning with a blank sheet with numbers 1 through 110, filling in each Messier Object in the order I found them. On Thursday night, March 23/Friday morning March 24 I found all 110 objects from Red Cloud Road, a desert area in Southern California, south of Joshua Trees Park. There were a few clouds in the morning but I worked around them. March 24 is the earliest that I've ever found M30. The following night, Friday/Sat March 24/25 I again found 110 Messier Objects, this time from the site of the All Arizona Messier Marathon location in southern Arizona. A few clouds again in the morning but I worked around them. On Sat/Sun. March 25/26 it was even cloudier and so I managed to find only 102 Messier Objects. Due to clouds I missed M74, 33, 31, 32, 110 in the evening and M72, 73 and 30 in the morning. I had a great time. The All Arizona Messier Marathon is awesome. I've done 34 Messier Marathons since 1979 and they continue to be fun and challenging. I may attempt one in early July later this year. Take care. Don Machholz Colfax, CA