Telescope Reviews: Messier Marathon results

Well, my second-ever Messier Marathon is in the books and I am pretty happy with the results. The Vandenberg Ameteur Astronomical society (VAAS) held our event at Figueroa Mt, split between two sites we refer to as Site 1 and Site 1.5. Seven members showed up for the event. Four of them came with the intent of doing some early binoc observing but were not planning on the whole night.

The sky was in pretty good shape, mostly clear with a bit of humidity or haze here and there but overall pretty good. The temps were moderate, starting around 60F and eventually getting down to about 46F. The biggest factor was the wind! Probably 20+ knots steady, with gusts higher. We all optimistically hoped it would die down at sunset. No such luck. We battled buffetting all night long, even with our cars parked upwind to form a bit of shelter. Made for some tough observing conditions as scopes were vibrating and pushing around. On the other hand, no need to tap the tubes to confirm faint objects! One casulty due to wind was a pair of binocs on a tripod that took a tumble in a particularly strong gust and got knocked out of collimation. I was glad I'd brought plenty of layers (thermals, fleece, down, goretex, balaclava) so temps were not too bad even with the wind. Although I did feel somewhat like the Stay Puffed marshallow man!

Ok, even with the wind, it turned out to be a great night. As dusk fell, we noticed a fantastic display of zodiacal light stretchig nearly to zenith! This was the first time I'd seen it that I remember. Very cool way to start off. Throughout the night, we observed many nice sporadic meteors, too.

I had my 10" dob w/ 38mm Geoptik and Paracorr and 11x70 Oberwerk binocs ready to start hunting and started in on M31, 32, and 110 at 7:04pm as it was still too bright for M74 and 77. Counted M45 as a visual sighting, too. As it got darker, 77 was not too hard, 74 was more difficult but persistence paid off, although I had a hard time picking it out in my friend's 8" Schmidt-Cas compared to my Dob. M33 jumped out at me, far brighter than from home. By 7:36 I had all the "early setters" logged and settled in for the build up to Coma/Virgo. Switched to binocs for a quick sweep up of M35-38, then back to the Dob.

By 8:00pm I was at 28 objects and counting and took a short break for a snack and a few minutes in the shelter of my car out of the wind. Started in on Leo at about 8:30. Noted what I believe was NGC 3384 near M105 and NGC 3628 near M66. This is the first time I'd noted the non-Messier galaxies.

Moving over to U-Maj, M81 and 82 were fantastic, big and bright. Near M40 I think I saw NGC 4364, 4335, 4290, and 4284 although with the wind shaking the scope I can't be 100% sure these were galaxies and not just shaken stars. Picked up a definite galaxy near M63, probably NGC 4618. M51 was amazing, big and bright with definite bridging to NGC 5195 and the suggestion of some dark lanes (1st time I've seen any structure here!). And M101 was a finder scope object (50mm)! From home it is another of those "I believe it so I see it" objects.

At 9:45 I took a deep breath and plunged head-first into Coma/Virgo. The AstroCards I was using proved very useful and hopped me reliably through the heart of the cluster. Noted NGC 4394 near M85 and NGC 4608 and 4596 near M60 and by 10:44 was done with the dreaded "realm of galaxies." I'd love to go back through there on a quieter night (less wind!) to enjoy the views a bit more and search for more of the non-Messiers there.

At this point I was in pretty good shape and feeling confident. I considered a nap (mostly to get out of the wind for a bit) but decided against it. Of our original observing group, the binoc observers had gone home and one had set up at Site 1.5, leaving me and one other at Site 1. My observing buddy had said he was considering packing it in earlier in the evening due to the wind but since he was still plugging away I stayed up to keep him company and encourage him to stick it out. We both agreed, though, that we were doing this out of sheer determination to beat the elements. Around midnight, the guy up at 1.5 drove by and said he was packing it in due to the wind, leaving just me and Vince to slog on.

I continued to pick away at the list over the next several hours as new objects rose and finished up with Ophiuchus a bit before 4:00 (times from here on include "spring forward" time change). I switched over to binocs for some surfing through the dense swaths of M's in Sgr-Sco-Sct-Ser. Nabbed 13 M's in just a few minutes. A highlight was watching M7 rise above the low ridge to the east, sharp pinpoints emerging one at a time above the dark ridge below, sort of like emerging after an occultation. Very cool sight!

From here it was a race between objects rising high enough to clear a the low ridge to the east and the sky getting light. Lots of scanning back and forth along the ridgeline to catch objects as soon as they cleared. Picked up M55, M69 with NGC6652 and m70 at 5:10, M54 at 5:25, M15 at 5:31. The sky was getting noticibly brighter by this time and it was clear I'd miss some of the last few objects. Capped the list with M55 at 6:10 and M75 at 6:20. At 6:25 Vince and I both agreed that it was time to pack it in.

Final tally was 106 Messier objects plus assorted others with M2, 72, 73, and 30 not observed. This attempt was definitely memorable, both for the number of objects observed and the satisfaction of not being beaten by the elements (yeah, I know, those of you in North Dakota are saying "whatever!"

).

Looking forward to reading more reports! Clear skies.

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Steve
16" Meade LightBridge (Beowulf)
Lunt 60/50 Double Stack w/ Pressure Tuner
10" Hardin DSH, StarMax 127mm Mak
Oberwerk 11 x 70 binocs
Four Winds Bar
Santa Maria Clear Sky Clock

Figueroa Mt Clear Sky Clock

Edited by molniyabeer (03/09/08 10:07 PM)