Page 1 of 1

Messier Marathon (CGO: April 2, 2022) is ON for Saturday!

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 8:58 pm
by setnes
This year's Messier Marathon is scheduled for this Friday or Saturday at CGO. I will be making a call on the weather later this week.

Prizes will be awarded at the following MAS meeting.

The goal of the event is simple. Observe as many Messier objects as possible in one evening.

More info to follow.

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:04 pm
by SEmert
Hoping for clear skies!
In case they may help anyone, attached are a copy of the S&T Messier chart and a copy of a suggested Messier Marathon search order, both in the original Excel format and also converted to a .pdf.

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:58 pm
by merle
FYI - We do have a Messier Marathon web page...

http://www.mnastro.org/messier-marathon/

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:57 pm
by setnes
It's only Wednesday, so there's time for this to change, but I thought I'd share the current weather forecast. This points to Saturday over Friday for this event. (not an official call)

Screenshot 2022-03-30 2.54.06 PM.png
Screenshot 2022-03-30 2.54.06 PM.png (185.63 KiB) Viewed 6636 times

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 4:27 pm
by defalkner
I know it's not the official call but the forecast has been pretty consistent all week and I agree Saturday looks better than Friday.

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 5:34 pm
by Scooter
I just checked with clear sky site and it also agrees.

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 5:44 pm
by setnes
I also agree. The Messier Marathon is officially OFF for Friday night.

I will wait before giving an official call for Saturday night. There is a reason for hope though.

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 1 or 2, 2022)

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 5:43 pm
by setnes
We are about 24 hours from the event on Saturday and the forecast has been consistently good for the first half of the evening. The different forecast sites also seem to be in agreement. I am calling this event ON for Saturday night. Please dress warm!

Screenshot 2022-04-01 5.40.08 PM.png
Screenshot 2022-04-01 5.40.08 PM.png (208.35 KiB) Viewed 6548 times

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 2, 2022) is ON for Saturday!

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 7:39 pm
by Scooter
See you all there. Scooter

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 2, 2022) is ON for Saturday!

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:46 pm
by setnes
Here are the Messier Marathon Sheets for tonight. You can also use your own if you have an observing order preference. I will print and bring some of these along. One is an optimized Messier observation order and the other is ordered by Messier number.

Messier_Marathon_2022-04-02-CGO_Observing_Order.pdf
(79.88 KiB) Downloaded 140 times
Messier_Marathon_2022-04-02-CGO_Messier_Order.pdf
(80.34 KiB) Downloaded 137 times

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 2, 2022) is ON for Saturday!

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 7:58 am
by TrenaJ
Thank you everyone that came out to CGO, whether there to hang out or to run through some MM objects. All appreciated!
Thank you Kris for the print outs and doing our Go/No Go call.

I would love to hear your story and maybe what object was your favorite of the night.

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 2, 2022) is ON for Saturday!

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 11:00 pm
by setnes
There were 11 of us at CGO on Saturday for the Messier Marathon. It was cold and frosty, but there were moments of excellent sky between passing clouds. These are the results I have. Not everybody turned in a sheet as they left, so I might not have all scores yet.

Don Gazdik -- 104
Kristopher Setnes -- 76
John & Emily Meyers -- 25
Scott Hash -- 25 (Used GOTO)
Trena Johnson -- 13
Ron Cooper -- 8

Re: Messier Marathon (CGO: April 2, 2022) is ON for Saturday!

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2022 11:38 pm
by setnes
My battery died at about 3 am.