MnAstro Forums

Greetings all,

I’m looking for either -or both - a 14mm and/or 18mm televue radian eyepiece(s). Anyone out there with these dinosaurs you want to unload?

Greetings all, The MAS Mini-Messier Marathon (4M) is scheduled for Friday/Saturday September 23/24 at CGO. This is an opportunity to observe many of the 110 Messier objects (the primary Marathon is in March/April). Come on out and enjoy the wonderful autumn skies with friends! I have attached a list...

Greetings all, I would like to remind you of the upcoming 4-M - the Mas Mini-Messier Marathon that will occur the weekend of October 8th/9th at Cherry Grove (not LLCC, at least not officially) - with Saturday, Oct. 9th being the backup date. As this is an OFFICIAL MAS star party (remember those?), i...

Other additions to those above: Dick Jacobsen: observed 24 out of 110 on 3/19 and 3/21 (while testing out his new invention, allowing a person to look through the finder with one eye and the eyepiece in another) Martin Godfrey imaged 44 out of 110 on 3/13/21 from him home deck. Keep 'em coming!! (Wh...

Greetings all, It's time to attempt to put together a list of all of you who went after the Weird Messier Marathon of 2021. Here's what I had sent to me: Valts Treibergs: imaged 109 out of 110 (from Black Mesa) on 3/10/21 Phil Ramsey: imaged/observed 107 out of 110 (from CGO) on 3/12/21 Jerry Jones:...

Just for clarification, it is the usual procedure to consider an 'observing night' to run from sundown to sunup. Consequently, anything observed at 10:30 pm on a particular 'observing night' and anything observed at 1:30 am on the same 'observing night' would be considered observed on the same 'obse...

Greetings all, Given the unique Covid-19 situation in which we are currently involved, it has been decided to allow for an individual experience for this year's Messier Marathon. Instead of having one specific location on one specific date, we are encouraging as many as are interested to get out and...

Greetings Darin - welcome to the Minnesota Astronomical Society! And, congrats on your upcoming 8” Dob - an excellent choice in a first telescope. Also, I am thrilled that you have discovered the Astronomical League’s Observing Programs. If you allow them to do so, they will help you organize your o...

Greetings all, Kristopher and I are OFFICIALLY CANCELLING THE OFFICIAL GROUP MESSIER MARATHON HELD AT CGO THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. I really like Kris' #2 idea above. Should it be clear (which some are forecasting clouds and rain), it would be great fun if we, as a entire MAS group of wacky visual o...

Greetings all, I have received permission from the MAS board to press on with the CGO Messier Marathon on March 27/28, if the field conditions and weather allow (big ifs). That said, Kris and I will monitor the COVID-19 situation as the dates near. Whether or not the Messier Marathon is called ON, e...

Nice job organizing it, Kris! We appreciate your efforts.

Greetings all, Well, lets' try this again! Perhaps ole' man winter won't show up and burden our observing field with white. Next weekend - May 3/4 - is the annual Virgo Venture as well as the replaced Messier Marathon for those who would prefer. I have attached the Virgo Venture list - 25 galaxies -...

Well, I think we have other problems this weekend that the moon...

Right - thanks for the correction on the moon rise time. Around 11:00 AM not pm. It will be up all night

Greetings all, Dave Venne tossed me a crazy, wacky idea that I thought I would pass along to you. He suggested that we consider doing a Messier Marathon this coming weekend - April 12\13 at CGO instead of waiting until next month. Here are some pros and cons to this idea (at least the ones I could t...

Greetings all, This is one of those rare moments where all of the forecast models agree: it's gonna be cloudy both tonight and tomorrow night. The Messier Marathon is OFFICIALLY CANCELLED for this weekend. If you desire, you are still free to observe at CGO, but there will be no organized star party...

The weather is looking pretty lousy for tonight and tomorrow night. But, just in case something happens, I won't make the official call until after 12:00 noon today. It will be posted here as well as on the front page of the website.

Additional info: Brandon Hamil feels fairly confident that the field and parking lot will be in good shape for the MM this coming weekend.

Greetings all, The 2019 Messier Marathon is scheduled for this upcoming weekend. I have not yet heard any additional information regarding the conditions of the field or the parking lot at CGO, but the extended forecast is not looking wonderful. However, it is too soon to give up hope! For those of ...

All, I just received an update from Vic from Dave Venne regarding the CGO field conditions: "By Friday/Saturday, I think the only usable places will be the observatory and the old BAD concrete strip. Walking around the warming house will not be good, either." The parking lot probably conti...

Greetings all, I just checked with Vic on the condition of the field at CGO for this weekend's star party. He said it is out of the question to use the parking lot. Depending upon the weather conditions, the field might be slippery if it is cold and windy. So,if you DO go, please do NOT park in the ...

I just checked with Vic on the condition of the field at CGO for this weekend's star party. He said it is out of the question to use the parking lot. Depending upon the weather conditions, the field might be slippery if it is cold and windy. So,if you DO go, please do NOT park in the parking lot and...

In a recent email conversation with Vic, he said that the snow had disappeared more quickly than he expected, but that the driveway and the field are still very soft. We won't know if the MM will be on until sometime in the middle of next week.

Greetings all,

The MAS Messier Marathon is scheduled for the Friday/Saturday of April 5th/6th at Cherry Grove.

At this moment, it is difficult to say whether the field will be ready. Stay tuned for updated information.

Greetings all, This is reminder that the Mini-Messier-Marathon will take place at Cherry Grove this weekend, September 7/8. Kris Setnes, our resident weather-whiz, will be letting you know about the predictions as we get closer. As I will be out of town, Kristopher will also be calling Friday's GO/N...