Mini Messier Marathon. Friday, Sept 26th!

[jjones7777]

Greetings all,

Our annual MAS Mini-Messier Marathon (4M) is coming up - Friday, Sept 26th at CGO. There's more information on the front page of the MAS website. Also, this year 4M lists are attached below. I've added the Pennington sequence numbers to the list (from the Year 'Round Messier Marathon Field Guide - the red book) to help organize it a bit differently. Feel free to organize it in the way that works best for you.

I'm looking forward to seeing how much darker our observing field will be now that we have a light fence - it should be really great.

Here's to clear skies!!

[clayton]

CGO Committee, any chance we can get the CGO field mowed Thursday instead of the day of the 4M? Fresh grass clippings get everywhere and if dew is present it’s doubly annoying. Maybe a sunny day and a little wind will give us a clean field. Of course I will wade some very tall and wet grass given the sky is clear!!

I am currently planning on being there, hopefully until the early morning hours. The recent skies have been very promising and I am trying to control my enthusiasm. I do not want to seem too eager as NNSF was not kind to me.

For those competitive ones out there, I tied with Dick Jacobson with 33 objects last marathon. Although the cloud whisper was not on his game and we had some less than perfect skies I can’t say we set the bar that high. For those eager to achieve MAS immortality this could be your time.

Lastly, any interested car poolers from the Woodbury area? You can PM me if interested.

[heinerv]

I talked with our mowers. Unless they think the field needs mowing today, Thursday, they will wait until next week. Our neighbor has mostly finished rebuilding one of his basement walls, so we should be ok with light. Now let's hope the weather holds and we get good skies.

[Enberg]

I think Jake Harrell achieved MAS immortality when he got over 100 Messier Objects at the spring MM two years ago, so that bar is pretty high. Me, I'll likely be there, trying to get as many H400 objects as I can.

[magneton]

I'm planning on using the BAD for the marathon, in GoTo mode. Anyone else is welcome to join. We'll miss our chance for MAS immortality but should enjoy some great views. I used the BAD on Monday night, and it worked well.

[Dave Venne]

I'm planning to come down to do some imaging for a different list. I'll set up at the edge of the field and be in low light mode so as not to keep anyone from immortality. Good luck, 4M-ers!

[srupes]

I was asked to pass along a big THANK YOU from my friends Lisa and Ashley who tagged along with me last night. Everyone made them feel welcome and they got to see some amazing things through not only my scope, but Krontab's scope as well as the BAD which became the favorite of the evening for them. From conversations I picked up on, not only were they just viewing objects but it was explained to them what they were seeing. On the car ride home they were discussing which object was the favorite for the night. I would also like to thank Hytham for pointing me in the right direction as I was struggling at first to get aligned. I don't know what my final count was for the night but I'm sure Lisa and Ashley saw more than I did. LOL

[Deane Clark]

It turned into a great night after a rough start. It was clear from about 9 to 2:30, then we started noticing parts of Orion disappearing randomly. By 3 it was cloudy with a few holes. That's just about when I ran out of gas anyway.

Thanks to Jerry for running the show, and everybody for the comaraderie.

[Dave Venne]

The start was discouraging, but after the clouds thinned and moved off it was fine, with a just-right breeze to keep the dew away. I was able to image four from my list (assuming they turn out) but my M count was zero. Thanks to Jerry for all the effort he put in, and also for the great view of the veil through his Dob!

[Enberg]

I had a productive night, working on the Herschel 400. I logged 22 H400 objects plus the Veil Nebula. First Light for my OIII filter. The skies were so-so - transparency was about 4 of 7, seeing was ok. A beautiful crescent moon set early. There were about six of us left by 3am when it clouded up. I took a nap in my car and then checked the skies again at 4:15 as I am trying to finish off the Binocular Deep Sky list and I've been waiting since spring for Canus Major and Monoceros to show up again. The skies were good enough to sucker me into setting up my tripod and binoculars, but then promptly socked in again - just had time to take a quick look at Jupiter. Thanks everyone for a delightful night of observing and especially for the guys who helped close up at 3am!

[clayton]

Had a good time at the 4M. Enjoyed my new skytools on my netbook with the Red Rubylith filter material gifted by Dave Venne. I cut and mated it to a 3M privacy Screen that I also cut down to fit my netbook. No light escapes to the sides so I hope not to need a desk tent. The screen was more readable than I thought it would be although it is only 10.1". However I would recommend larger screens unless, like me, you are making do with what you have.

I chased and got lost trying for M objects on the horizon and finally just moved on to the easy stuff.

Thank you, Jerry and the CGO Committee for hosting.