2021 Messier Marathon

[jjones7777]

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 observe as many Messier objects as possible. While the 'usual' rules are 'using star-hopping techniques, find as many Messier object as you can in one night', This year's 'rules' are:

1. Any location is acceptable; obviously the darker the better
2. Any one date from March 10th to April 10th is allowed. Obviously, the less moon the better.
3. There will be two categories: star-hopping and GOTO. Please notate which method you used on your log entry
4. Please send your completed Messier Marathon log to me at jjones7777@aol.com


Please visit our Messier Marathon page at http://www.mnastro.org/messier-marathon/ for more information.

Please use the Messier Marathon log sheet attached.

Messier Marathon Log - official.pdf

(55.09 KiB) Downloaded 45 times

Now, get out there and observe those Messier Objects!!

Clear Skies (at least for the next month),

[jjones7777]

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 'observing night' - which would be the date of the sundown of the 'observing night'. This is especially true of observation sessions that begin before midnight and last past midnight.

I hope this clears up any confusion (or did I just make it more confusing?). This is the procedure that is used by many observing software applications, including SkyTools.

[ValtsTreibergs]

I received multiple requests to post my MM movie shown at the April 2021 MAS meeting.
Here is the link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/-H9gcq2iqZQ
Enjoy
Valts Treibergs

[Dick Jacobson]

Outstanding! I was glad to see the M numbers in the lower right corner; for some reason they were mostly scrolled off my screen during the Zoom presentation. I also have a wall poster of all the Messier objects. It's interesting to have them all portrayed at the same magnification and exposure. I find that galaxies and nebulae look better in images, while star clusters look better in a scope because of more contrast in brightness of the stars. Thanks for posting!

[jjones7777]

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: observed 26 out of 110 from Stillwater, MN on 3/11/21 (used GOTO)
Jakko Hanson: observed 17 out of 110 from two separate locations on 3/12,13,14/21 - using binoculars. NO GOTO! Nice Job, Jakko!

If there are any others who went for it and are not listed, please send me your results! If you did send them to me and they are not posted here, my apologies - send them to me again. Those of you who used Slack, please let me know; I attempted to log on to Slack but was unsuccessful.

Perhaps next year things will be 'normal'.

Congrats to all who gave it a try Thank you!

[jjones7777]

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!!

(What - what's the bright light is see in the daytime sky?? Oh, never mind, it's gone now...)

[TrenaJ]

I did 19 Messier for the Virgo/Coma Beninese cluster and Hydra / 4/3-4/2021. No goto, do I need to fill out a sheet..well Jerry has them