MnAstro Forums

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 think of):

Pros:
-another opportunity to get out observing!
-a bit closer to the 'best' MM dates

Cons:
-the moon is at 63% but doesn't come up until about 11:00 pm
-it might snow (too soon to really know the weather)
-I don't expect I will be available to coordinate the experience

If you are interested in this wacky idea, please post a response! If you are willing to coordinate it - hand out the forms and collect them - please mention that, too!

Of course, we still can incorporate the MM into the Virgo Venture of next month - there are just so many great things to look at!


Thanks for Dave V for thinking outside of the usual MAS box.

One small note, not that it improves the idea, but the first quarter moon will already be in the sky at sunset and won't set until around 2:50. So it's going to be there most of the night.

It will be parked just west of the Beehive and south of Pollux on Friday night so there will be some room between it and that MM goldmine otherwise known as the Virgo cluster Saturday night it will be in the middle of Cancer, so good luck with M44.

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

Hi Jerry,

I would be interested in coming to CGO next weekend.

Moon-schmoon... it's finally Spring!!

Suresh

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

Why oh why did I even suggest this?? I should have known Minnesota weather doesn't suffer fools like me!

This coming Friday and Saturday are possibly looking good...4/19- 4/20

farroutman2003 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:16 pm This coming Friday and Saturday are possibly looking good...4/19- 4/20

Full moon weekend

Good weather predicted, but yeah, with the full Moon rising at 8:30 pm Friday (4/19) and 9:40 pm Saturday (4/20) it appears it would make more sense to go to the BSIG observing session at ELO this weekend instead. But even by mid-week, hoping for clear skies, the 3/4 illuminated Moon rises at 2:00 am Wednesday (4/24) and by Friday (4/26) the half illuminated Moon rises at 3:00 am, providing lots of access to darker CGO skies. I'm holding out for later in the week or into the weekend for CGO.

Steve,

Help me understand why would the BSIG observing session at ELO be any better? Wet conditions at CGO and the parking lot?

Because there is a moon up there this weekend, and it counteracts the darker skies of CGO. Just saying their isn't that much advantage to a darker site during a full Moon. And Suresh has mentioned he anticipates a large turnout for the BSIG, so he would like some more experienced amateurs to help out. Just a thought, that's all.

I haven't been to CGO since the rainfall this week, but the parking area wasn't bad the last time I was there a week or so before it.

Hi Conrad,

The reason the BSIG is at ELO tomorrow is because the field drains much better than Metcalf (or CGO).

It helps being on top of a hill.