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Who else out there in the Bino Forum is going to give the marathon a "college try" ??

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Well I passed completely last year as I had only caught about 20 Messier object in all at that time, but now with 108 covered (and two relatively simple one's left - but only visible well after midnight, so I've been waiting for a good time to get them!) and having caught both M74 and m76 in 18x50's bino's, I know the skies here can be dark enough to catch most of them. I also have new Saturn III binos with a Green laser which should be an ideal instrument for a marathon. And it looks like I have an employee (who is interested in astronomy) half-persuaded to stay up all night and act as recorder/scheduler/confirmer . Main issue now is do I do this where it's really convenient (by my cabin at 1,900' but with trees around), or head up to Brasstown Bald (elevation 4,000' and 360 degree viewing) which will obviously work better but a lot less comfortable!

Anyway, I'll have fun that evening as I do intend to finally pick up M68 and M83 which are the only two Messier's I have left to "bag". I've been looking at the skies around Messier viewing time, and it looks like M74's going to be awfully difficult to catch - it's one of the more difficult (if not most difficult) Messiers, and it will be very low at sunset - at 7pm it'll be only 20 degree elevation and it won't be completely dark at that point. I've been monitoring that one on the few clear nights recently, and that's going to be tough. And M30 is only set to rise around 5:10am on the 25th, by 6:30am it'll only be 14 degrees elevation AND it'll already be getting light by then. So from where I am (2hrs N of Atlanta, GA), catching all of them looks like it would be impossible anyway, but if I get more than half (and I should be able to do that if it's clear), I'll be a happy camper. I hope to do a dry-run around New Moon on Feb28 as I am heeding the advice of wise one's on this forum to try and find everything AGAIN BEFORE the crush and pressure of the marathon!

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