Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:45:03 -0700
From: Thom/TFW
To: spider
Subject: 2004 Messier Marathon Results


Sirius Lookers (Sedona Astronomy Club) Results

Can you say clouds! The group that showed up to marathon was really hard 
core. When they missed the 1st couple of objects because of clouds most 
just turned it into a social observing event. To quote one "I fought the
clouds and the clouds won" If they couldn't get them all they just 
didn't want to play, then again Bill Ferris and Brent Archinal of the 
Coconino club have done all 110 before. The only one to continue was 
Milt Wilcox from the Astronomers of Verde Valley, he got 100+. A good
time was had by all at any rate. We will do it again next year.

At this point I'm going to cut and paste Milt's report:

Approximately 20 observers gathered Saturday night at the two trees
observing site between Cottonwood and Sedona, AZ. The Saguaro,
Coconino, Sedona, and Verde Valley clubs were all represented. AVV
members present were Steve Herman, J.D. & Karen Maddy, Ted and James
Cooke and myself (we missed you, Doug). I brought my 8" Newtonian
with binoviewer and 18x50 binoculars.

At dusk, persistent cirrus clouds in the west set the tone for what
would become a challenging night. I considered myself lucky to be
missing only M74, M77 and M110 at 8:30pm. As the night progressed,
many scopes turned from M's to planets, as the skies were much more
steady than transparent. We were treated to a beautiful double
transit in a Takahashi FS128 f/8 tracking on a G11. Thusly inspired,
Ted & James promptly produced a similar view in their 6" f/8
Dobsonian!

As others gave up on the marathon, I soldiered on while sharing views
with J.D. and Karen, who had poured 5 yards of concrete that day and
left their scope at home. Even Diane's brownies couldn't keep Karen
awake! Ted & James are rapidly becoming accomplished observers and I
enjoyed trading views with them for several hours. While looking for
M81/82, they discovered a "new" galaxy we immediately dubbed "Ted's
galaxy." Yes Ted, it does have a designation: NGC2976, mag 10.

By 11:45pm I had managed to complete everything (excepting the three
M's missed early) up to the point of entering Virgo galaxy cluster.
It was time for a break: double chocolate brownies & coffee all
around. After an hour break, I was ready for the galaxies. I was
still hanging onto my original plan to complete everything available
in the sky by 2:30am and then take a snooze while waiting for the
remaining objects to rise. I had even set an alarm in advance to
guard against oversleeping. I was ready!

I like to do the Virgo cluster by starting with the galaxies that lay
roughly on the line between Denebola and epsilon Virginis. Then, I
move off the line to the north and pick up the others. I was just
starting to move north around 1:00am when a large band of clouds moved
in and blocked much of the sky. Down but not out, I talked
binoviewers with Dennis Young while waiting out the clouds. By 2:00am
panic was beginning to set in, and with 8 Virgo galaxies still
remaining, I began to jump ahead to brighter objects I might be able
to see through the muck. M5, M13, M92 and M39 fell, but none of the
globs in Scorpius or Ophiuchus were visible. I realized it might be
over.

At 3:00am, with the skies still horrible, I began to pack up.
Binoculars and tripod; scope, binoviewer and mount; chairs, coffee and
brownies; all went back into the truck. As I was about to close the
tailgate at 3:30am I turned for one last look and, What's This? I can
actually see the Coma star cluster, and Antares is orange! The sky
was rapidly clearing. I thought about it for about 30 seconds and
began unloading again, starting with the brownies. It was now silent
across the parking lot, save for the occasional snore.

My "time stamp" for M91 was 3:35am, and the rest of the Virgo cluster
was in the bag by 4:00am. But I was still way behind and needed to
get through the rest of Cygnus and all of the globular clusters. Then
my alarm went off reminding me to get up from my nap... By the time I
started on Sagittarius, it was 5:00am and the first hints of dawn were
appearing in the east. I stepped up the pace, and went through all 18
Sag objects in 23 minutes (much of which was spent recording the
observations). It had never occurred to me that all my time spent
enjoying the region in the past would come in handy in a marathon, but
it did. Now it was really getting light, so I jumped ahead to the
bright M15 and got it. It was to be my last object, as M55, M75, M2,
M72, M73 and M30 were lost to dawn's glow.

So, my third marathon is history and I finally surpassed 100 objects
(including NGC5866 for M102). Will I do it again? No way. Exactly
what I said last year.

Clear Skies,
Milt



"Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means" Francis =
Hutchenson a Scot philosopher

Thom Walczak
www.siriuslookers.org