Contributed by AJ Crayon The following was transcribed from the May 1981 Saguaro Astronomy Club newsletter by myself. Some parts were difficult to interpert, owing to the copy process - mimme-o-graph. Thanks to Jack Jones SAC Treasurer for additional reviewing and filling in the parts I was unable to understand. AJ Crayon Saguaro Astronomy Club Messier Marathon Coordinator From Saguaro Astronomy Club Newsletter May 1981 Paul Maxson, President Our turnout for the April 4 Messier Marathon and star party made this occasion the most successful club start party ever. It was reported to me that we had over 40 people and 27 telescopes present. I arrived by 5:00pm to find out that Dave Fredericksen had beaten me by about 2 hours. By 6:00pm about 15-20 people had shown up to secure an observing site. The first couple of hours were somewhat hectic with people milling all over the place. Unfortunately, the first couple of objects to observe in the marathon were very close to the horizon in the west and sometimes we had to observe through head nebula to try to find what we were looking for. This is a point well taken. People should be more aware of other people's scopes when walking around. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to make that elusive observation only to have someone standing in your way. After those first 5 or 6 objects were observed it became much easier as the objects were now higher in the sky. By 10:30pm many people had left leaving the diehards behind. Several of us were still working fast and furiously on our marathon hunt. By midnight we were down to about 12 observers. Who were these observers? For the most part these are the same people who "always" are on the site each starparty until midnight. By 3:00am we were left with only the marathoners. I saw Bob Buckner, Wally Brown, George Kohl, Greg Askins, Ron Caciola, Bud Ridley and myself at this time. The sky conditions (especially after 2:00am) were excellent and M-objects fell right and left. By dawn most of us were observed out but still Ron Caciola was fast and furiously scanning Capricorn for those elusive few objects. Suddenly George Kohl yelled, "I can see Andromeda!!" We all zoomed in on M-31 and quickly found M-110 which eluded us in the early evening. At sunrise the final results were beginning to become obvious. Bud Ridley checked in with about 40 objects, but he was hampered by the fact he was using a 4 1/4" RFT with only 15X. Ron Caciola with his 8" Dobsonian equipped with a new 9X60 finder found 103 objects missing M-74, 77, 110, 73, 72, 33 and 30. Wally, Bob, George and Greg recorded 107 objects missing only M-74, 77 and 33. Wally was using a C-8, Bob was using a 5" RFT refractor, George had his 12.5" reflector and Greg an 8" reflector. I managed to get 108 objects missing only M-74 and M-77 using an 8" reflector. The marathon was a very successful occasion for our club. Now that we have done it once we'll know how to do things next time to be more efficient. We all owe Wally Brown a thunderous round of thanks for all the work he has put into the marathon and deep sky group. Were it not for all of his hard work our program wouldn't be one of the finest (if not "the" finest) in the country. Thanks again, Wally, we all owe you a big, tall, cool one. Results ======= Final results for the 1981 Saguaro Astronomy Club's first Messier Marathon held on April 4/5 at New River, Arizona. #M Name scope missed notes 108 Paul Maxson 8"f6 N 74, 77 107 Greg Askins 8"f6 N 33, 74, 77 16 yrs old. 107 Wally Brown 8"f10SCT 33, 74, 77 107 Bob Buckner 5"f5 N 33, 74, 77 107 George Kohl 12.5"f5N 33, 74, 77 103 Ron Caciola 8"f7 D binos taped on for finder!