ASLC
Messier Marathon 2005
ASLC
Messier Marathon 2005
Welcome to the Messier Marathon 2005 page! The Marathon was held on March 12-13 and we collected reports from the participants to share the experience in hopes of getting even more people excited about joining us for the fun next year. Hope we'll see you there!
Six brave (or crazy) souls braved early winds, midnight clouds and sleep deprivation in the second annual ASLC Messier Marathon. Individuals from the El Paso Astronomy Club joined ASLC this year at the Upham observing site for a long night of observing, caffeine and camaraderie. Early on, about 20 participants were on hand to observe in the transparent, but windy skies. By about 11 pm, the wind had largely subsided and several of the more casual observers had retired to more comfortable digs. During an hour or so before midnight, the group (now around10) hopped stars and dodged clouds. By the time that the clouds had moved off to the Southeast, only six remained, Dave Dockery, Steve Barkes, Steve Smith, Joseph Mancilla, Phillip Heron, and Rich Richins. As dawn approached, we raced through Sagittarius and Aquarius then awaited M30 in Capricornus. Alas, the pre-dawn sky was just too much for the Mag-8.5 glob. For the second year in a row, Steve B and Joseph had to settle for 109. Rich got a ‘go-to’ assisted 109 (he is still pretty happy about getting 104 by hand). Dave and Steve S. each got 108. Assuming that we can obtain all of the results by our next meeting, we’ll be passing out certificates for the participants.
- Rich Richins
All
in all, I think it was a great night and I was really glad to see so many people
participate. Dave, you were a real trooper going after these objects like a Pit
Bull with a bone. I think a big congratulation is due Rich Richins for doing so
well on this first time out of the chute. Steve not-a-Barkes, Steve not-a-Smith,
and myself all seemed to plod along steadily but we did have difficulties in the
early morning sky. It was great how we all helped each other out. There were
some notable remarks over the course of the night. Things like; "Aha there you
are you little (expletive)." A lot of groans and mutterings as we navigated
through the Virgo cluster. As I was dozing off in the back of my pickup, the
best remark was from Rich who said during a moment of sheer silence. " I don't
think I like this Virgo thing". Most often heard was; "Let me see where your
Telrad is pointing". We also coined a new technical term. "Schmutz". As in; "
It's down there in the Schmutz. The first 5 degrees above the horizon defines
the Schmutz. I don't know what Nil's numbers were, But I know he made it through
the Virgo cluster after asking around. I know that this experience has made
better at navigating the sky visually. Great job everyone!
- Joseph Mancilla
What a great time!!! I enjoyed the marathon last year, when Joseph and I were
the only two observers to stick out the whole night. But this year,
with a great crowd to start us on our way, and lot's more company at 4:00 in the
morning, was even better. I love the fact that we had half a dozen people, each
working towards a common goal. And each of us had something to contribute,
whether pointing out a small obscure constellation in the glow of the Milky Way,
sharing our scopes, eyepieces, or a view through a finder to pinpoint a
location. It a very rewarding feeling. Quite a night when you think about it:
109 Messier objects, 3 planets, at least a half a dozen moons including a shadow
transit on Jupiter. And Joseph was still splitting double stars in his spare
time ;-) Next year.....110!!! Damn you M30 ;-)
- Steve Barkes
What
a great time! I had never been to the Upham site or attempted a marathon,
so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Warren Marquette (from El Paso) and I
arrived at the site to find there was no one else there. Had we found the right
spot? Was it called off due to the wind? Our fears were alleviated when Steve
Barkes showed up. He plopped down his beautiful homemade rocker box, put the
candy cane dob tube on top and declared he was ready! Rich Richins showed up and
immediately set up his McGuiver style windbreak. Dave Dockery went retro with
his non-goto 8” SCT. A good crowd eventually showed up to start the evening
despite the brisk wind and a bit of dust. I decided to go low-tech in my first
marathon attempt forsaking my 10" SCT goto rig for a 5" achromat on an alt-az
mount. While waiting for dark, I spent some time talking with friends and making
new ones. As it began to get dark, those that had been to the site the night
before compared notes about when they had been able to spot the first object.
Once it was dark enough, it was off to the races! After the initial rush of the
first handful of objects, the pressure was off and folks settled into a steady
rhythm. I spent the evening locating 5 or 10 objects, chatting with friends,
then hunting down a few more objects. As people jumped into the Virgo cluster,
the merits of Pennington's verses Machholz's methods was debated. Joseph's
experience was evident as he zipped through these objects with ease. I had to
backtrack a couple of times to find my way through this swarm of galaxies.
Suddenly, around 2:00 AM, I had run out of objects! There was time to kill while
waiting for more objects to rise. Nils and I were able to pass some time talking
about the dob projects he and Rich are working on. Warren grabbed some
astrophotos. The sounds of snoring periodically permeated the site as folks
grabbed a little shuteye in preparation for the rush before sunrise. After
grabbing a quick nap myself, I awoke to find Scorpius fairly high in the sky
with Sagittarius just breaking the horizon. After checking off a seemingly
endless string of globular clusters, we were into the home stretch. M72 was very
elusive in my scope, but I finally bagged it low in the southeast sky.
Unfortunately, M73 was nowhere to be seen. I did get a view of it through Steve
Barkes' scope, but never found it in my refractor. Alas, M30 was not viewable
either as it was lost in the brightening sky. Overall, I had 108 out of 110
objects checked off my list. I was very pleased considering it was my first time
out. I had a blast and look forward to bagging those last two objects next year.
- Steve Smith
What
a terrific night! We had a good turnout, even though there was a strong
west wind early. Many folks set up downwind of their vehicles and Rich R. (ever
the Eagle Scout) even made a wind break out of fencing posts and a tarp.
Fortunately the wind wasn’t much of a factor after a while and the weather
turned out to be pretty good for most of the night. I was excited and anxious to
get started as the sun set and the sky darkened. I brought my trusty (non-goto)
Celestron 8” SCT equipped with Telrad finder and my Barska 15x70 binocs,
complete with red dot finder for the event and I really liked the combination. I
used the binoculars for the big bright stuff like M31 and many of the open
clusters. They also helped to locate some of the more elusive smaller targets.
The telescope was mainly used for the dim fuzzies and the Telrad really worked
well with the finder charts in Harvard Pennington's book ‘The Year-Round Messier
Marathon Field Guide.’ Steve Barkes and I were among those running the
Pennington list and Joseph and a few others were running the Machholz version.
At 7:33 I bagged my first object, M74 - a dim galaxy in Pisces, which was way
too close to the setting moon for comfort. It was a tough beginning but things
got easier from there. By 8:30 I had located my first twenty and by 10:30 the
count was up to 47 objects. Shortly after that, we got into the dreaded Virgo
cluster where I struggled for an hour or so to locate the correct thirteen dim
galaxies amid the zillions. Several of us were more or less keeping pace and
chatting as we went along but then it got real quiet as we started working
Virgo. It was definitely a challenge. Around midnight and safely past Virgo, a
few people took a nap for an hour or so. I’m not sure I slept much but lying
down and closing my eyes for a while was a really good thing. I got up after a
bit, had some food and hot coffee then began again in Hercules at a quarter of
two. By 3:00 I was up to 80 objects and working in Scorpio as the Milky Way rose
in the east. Boy, I never realized there were so many globular clusters in that
part of the sky. At 4:00 the count was well into the 90s and I was deep in
Sagittarius, one of my favorite pieces of the sky. M8 was spectacular, as usual,
and I could tell as others got to it from the “Wow” and “Nice!” reactions. I
found the last of the southern objects M75 at 4:25 near a bright orange
uncharted star that turned out to be Mars (yea, we were getting tired by then)
and started looking for the last few objects on the eastern horizon. There was
some low haze (Schmutz) in the first few degrees above the horizon that made it
difficult to find anything until it got up a bit. At that point we were
basically playing a waiting game and it took ten minutes to find M15 and then 15
more to locate M2. I got my last object M72 at 5:00am as the sky was
brightening. Although I did get to see M73 in Steve B’s scope, I just couldn’t
locate it in mine before the stars faded into the morning twilight. This left me
with a grand total of 108 out of a possible 109 (M30 wasn't possible this year.)
Not bad for my first serious attempt!
This was a great experience and I hope even more members will catch the bug and
participate next year. Aside from the challenge and fun of an all-night treasure
hunt, there’s a great sense of camaraderie and teamwork as everyone helps one
another along on a common quest. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity next year
to get out and bag all 110!
- Dave Dockery
All these excellent reports certainly capture the event from several unique
perspectives - don't see much I could add. Dick, John & I shared equipment to
some degree and each had good results, progressing well beyond our prior Messier
observations. I was able to bag 78 M-objects before packing up & retiring at
about 2am. I had wanted to have a go at the Virgo Cluster and was pleased to
finally get thru them by around 1 or 1:30 (tough, as my eyes were getting
tired).
As Dave mentioned, the big binos/telescope combination worked quite well - most
of the Messiers I saw were also evident in the binocs (45 of the 78 I observed).
It was definitely rewarding to see several objects that I'd never found before -
the fun was definitely in the observing & camaraderie of friends.
I could second guess my choice to leave early but what's done is done. Next
year's marathon does sound enticing, though! At least I can finally apply for my
AL Messier certificate (or perhaps I'll wait a little till I've got all 110
observed...still missing a few globulars!)
- Nils Allen