MnAstro Forums

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?), it will be called ON or OFF by our illustrious weather-person and Observing co-chair, Kristopher Setnes. As the weekend comes closer, he will be letting you know more about the weather forecast as well as how the 4M works. For those who would like to have a bit more information, check out the MAS webpage: http://www.mnastro.org/mini-messier-marathon/ .

I will also duplicate this announcement on the Observer's Forum.

Here's to clear skies for the 4M!

There will be three categories for this year's MAS Mini-Messier Marathon.

1) Non computerized visual (traditional Messier marathon)
2) Computerized visual (GOTO or Push-To computers)
3) Astrophotography (Most Messier objects imaged)

We will have the Messier event at Cherry Grove Observatory, but you are not required to be at CGO in order to participate. You simply need to submit your Messier list to me before Monday.

The forecast for tonight has gotten worse, not better. I am officially cancelling the 4M this weekend.

There is a little bit of room for optimism at the very start of the evening, but it doesn't look good enough for a Messier Marathon. If anybody DOES go out and experiences excellent sky, I'd love to know how wrong I am. There's certainly nothing stopping you from going to CGO. There just won't be an official marathon tonight.