2006 Messier Marathon

This report describes my first Messier Marathon.

Event: Messier Marathon
Date: 3/25/06, 7:30pm to 3/26/06, 5:30am
Location: Home (specs unknown, but decently dark skies with some light pollution to the north, lesser amount to the west and southeast)
Weather: Started at 57 degrees, light breeze, light thin clouds; ended at 41 degrees, no wind, no clouds
Equipment: 10" RCX, using GoTo; 30mm XW Pentax eyepiece
Tally:  107 of 110 Messier objects; 10 satellites; several NGC objects; 3 planets; The Moon

This was my first Messier Marathon, I've been into astronomy "officially" since June 2005. So I decided to use the GoTo capabilities of my scope since I was doing the marathon alone from home, where the skies aren't super dark but are still pretty good.  Everything was set up and ready to go by 7:00, the scope was locked in and tracking on the first object on the list, M74, but it was still bright twilight so too soon to see anything.

I used as my guide The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide by H. C. Pennington  -- a book highly recommended by many.  I also supplemented this with time estimation data from Astronomy Hacks by Robert Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson -- and typed up a one-page chart and checklist broken down into time segments.  The chart/checklist and the Field Guide book were with me at the scope.

Briefly, my goals were to get the first 15 objects between 7:30 and 8:30; 21 objects between 8:30 and 9:00; rest break between 9:00 and 9:30 (when I planned to look at Saturn for at least part of the time); 33 objects between 9:30 and 12:00; nap between 12:00 and 2:00; 36 objects between 2:00 and 4:00; and the final 5 between 4:00 and dawn.  Since those time estimations were based on star-hopping, I figured I'd have some extra time built-in from using GoTo but wasn't sure how much of an advantage it would give me and was curious to find out.

First segment (7:30-8:30 estimated, 7:30-8:09 actual) -- M74, M77, M31, M32, M110, M33, M34, M76, M79, M42, M43, M78, M50, M47, M46

Though I tried hard for M74 for over 10 minutes, it was first lost in twilight and then in light pollution that just happens to be right in that area. I could see a few stars after twilight faded but not M74. I didn't want to give it too much longer since I wasn’t sure of timing on everything else.  Object 1 of 110 was a wash-out.  Not a good start.    But I was half expecting it...just because I have GoTo doesn't mean I'm going to get them all.    Andromeda and its satellites were tough but I got them; if I didn't know them already I might not have.  M33 was also a wash-out due to light pollution.  The rest of the first 15 went fairly easily, and I was done early, by 8:09 instead of 8:30.

Second segment (8:30-9:00 estimated, 8:11-9:00 actual w/break) -- M41, M93, M52, M103, M1, M45, M36, M37, M38, M35, M48, M44, M67, M65, M66, M95, M96, M105, M3, M53, M64

Missed M52 in Cassiopeia due to light pollution, got the rest of the way through M67 by 8:30. Stopped to go in and check the temperature (wanted to do an hourly-on-the-half-hour check for my records), and took a 15 minute break while I was inside since I was still running ahead of schedule.  Back out and finished the rest by 9:00, right on schedule.

Break time (9:00-9:30 estimated, 9:00-9:20 actual) -- time for the 30 minute break.  Observed Saturn for 20 minutes with various eyepieces, but decided not to take the whole 30 minutes (1) since I'd just taken a break and (2) because I was afraid I'd fall asleep sitting down!

Third segment (9:30-12:00 estimated, 9:20-10:30 actual except M13 & M92) -- M85, M51, M101, M106, M40, M81, M82, M97, M108, M109, M102 (using NGC 5866 in Draco), M63, M94, M68, M83, M104, M61, M49, M58, M59, M60, M84, M86, M87, M88, M89, M90, M91, M98, M99, M100, M13, M92

For the most part, this segment wasn't too bad.  There were a couple of them I had to go back later and get; M101 was down in some light pollution when I first tried, so I went back and got it about 45 minutes after I first started.  The rest of them were pretty much where they needed to be except for the last two in Hercules -- they were down too low behind my house, because I finished this segment at 10:30, when estimated time was 12:00!  Definitely a huge benefit with GoTo during this segment!  The two in Hercules I picked up in the fourth segment.

Break/nap time (12:00-2:00 estimated, 10:30-1:30 actual) -- going by the timetable and how far ahead I was, I could have taken a nap/break between 10:30 and 2:00. Decided to check out the Cloudy Nights website (my astronomy home on the Internet ) for a bit and then take a nap until 1:45.  Best laid plans and all that, I started chatting with a buddy online. Then while doing that, I fired up the Starry Nights program to find a low-lying object I could leave the RCX on for tracking purposes because it was getting dewy outside -- and discovered that Omega Centauri was (theoretically) viewable! I ran outside, tried to find it in the scope, and it just looked all cloudy.  Well, that was because it WAS cloudy down there, just in the 30 minutes or so I'd been inside, a whole mess of  high thin clouds had started moving through, not everywhere but overhead and down around the horizons, where Omega Centauri was lurking.  Finally eked out enough to see it....it still looked just like a cloudy nebula-like blob. No matter how much I tried with various eyepieces, I couldn't get any stars to resolve.   Not a great first impression of such a wondrous cluster, but I wasn't expecting to be able to see it at all for another month so it was still pretty cool.  Back inside, continued chatting with my buddy, reading the Cloudy Nights forums, and puttering around.  Was ready to go back out and start again at 1:30 -- total break time, including time on Omega Centauri, 3 hours.

Fourth segment (2:00-4:00 estimated, 1:30-3:50 actual except M55) -- M56, M57, M71, M27, M29, M39, M5, M10, M12, M107, M9, M14, M11, M26, M16, M17, M18, M6, M7, M19, M62, M4, M80, M8, M20, M21, M23, M24, M25, M22, M28, M54, M69, M70, M55, M75

When I first came back out, I noticed the battery pack was showing low power.  I'd left the dew heater set at 50% and wasn't used to how much it might drain power.  So my first step before continuing was to hunt around in the garage to find a long extension cord that I could use to plug the battery charger into.  Note to self at the time: Yell at hubby when he gets home on Sunday for taking away the extension cord I'd been using.    Finally found one and got everything plugged in.  Ready to rock and roll again.  Note to self now: if doing this from home next year, make sure battery is plugged in and charging from the start.

Due to the high thin clouds continuing to hang around for awhile beginning at 1:30 (which were pretty much completely cleared by 2:30), I had to move the order of this segment's objects around some.  Also moved some around because a few of the low Scorpius, Sagittarius and Scutum objects weren't up high enough when I first tried them because of skipping some of the earlier items because of the clouds...  This was the slowest segment of all, simply due to a lot of waiting for clouds to get out of the way, waiting for objects to get up high enough from the horizon, waiting, waiting, waiting.   I had several little 10 and 15 minute breaks, and also a 30-minute break of viewing Jupiter which was my first since the King disappeared last fall and really my first good observations of it with the RCX.  Still had 1 object left that wasn't yet high enough by the "time" end of this segment, but let's move on to the final segment.

Fifth segment (4:00-dawn estimated, 3:50-5:30 actual) -- M15, M2, M72, M73, M30

While waiting for the last object of the fourth segment to get high enough, I started looking ahead to the final 5 objects of the last segment and realized some of them were going to be behind my house from where I was set up and not rise high enough in time to snag them.  Having plenty of time to wait, I shut down the RCX computer and rolled it down to a better spot on the driveway, re-did the auto-alignment procedure, and promptly snagged 2 of this segment's objects.  A few minutes later, the last one from the fourth segment got high enough, then about 10 minutes later, 2 more of this segment's objects.  That left the last item -- M30.  I was missing only 3 of 109 objects so far, with this one to go.  I had 20 minutes before M30 even rose, let alone got high enough out of the muck to try for.  So I walked around some so that I wouldn't fall asleep; I looked at Venus; I looked at the Moon; I realized that Cassiopeia, which contains M52, which I had missed early in the second segment, had circled back around in its circumpolar orbit and was high up above my house again, and snagged it!!    I was only missing 2 objects now!!  That gave me a brief adrenaline shot.  Alas, no matter how long I looked and how hard I tried, M30 proved elusive due to mild light pollution in that direction, perhaps some horizon clouds and then twilight, dooming me to 3 objects missed.  At 5:30, I called it a night/morning/marathon; stick a fork in me, I was done.

Conclusion

Was it worth staying up all night, not even taking a nap at all? Sure! It was great fun. Other than one little stretch in the middle and right near the end, I really wasn't that tired. My feet hurt from standing so much, but that was about it. I'm glad I used GoTo this first time, there were lots of objects I never would have found even with charts and pictures since I'd never seen them before. Preparation is key; don't try to just wing it without at least putting some thought into it. But be prepared to deviate if needed; skip a couple if they're difficult and you can snag a couple of easy ones, and then go back and try the others again (unless it's the first few or last few when you don't get many chances).

You never know what you can do if you don't try!   

page last modified 5/28/2006