Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 07:42:46 EDT From: John Barra Subject: PAS 2004 Marathon Clouds left the Peoria area 20 minutes too late on Friday night, so the Peoria Astronomical Society held it's annual marathon the next evening (March 31-April 1). It was clear at sunset and sunrise, with intermittent cloud-outs during the night. Six members began, but only two survived the cold the entire evening. John Barra was able to observe 106 objects, while Tim McGrath finished with 102. Barra was unable to view M74, because it was too low in the sky in late March, and M2, M30 and M55, because of a few trees to the southeast. The society, which holds the marathon at its Decker-Grebner-VanZant Observatory west of Peoria, will look for a new site for the marathon that would have a clear horizon to the southeast.