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[jeremy]

I will let others jump in who participated, but I thought I would start this thread for the recently attempted Messier Marathon at Conway. I was able to arrive at Conway around 6:45. This was a little later than I planned, but still plenty of time to setup for sundown.

It started off slow, could not find M74, or M77. Was in the right part of the sky, but they were not showing themselves. Finally I moved onto Andromeda and caught M31&32, but not 110. After getting over this hump, we were on fire. Able to catch everything until we were closer to sunrise.

Around 5am, the moisture in the air was thick. Dew was all over everything, so we were wiping everything down regularly. Around then, the moon started to rise as well. Between the air, and the moon out, it made star hopping very hard. Fortunately being someone who lives in the city, I felt I was now in my zone. However the reality was I went from finding objects in about 2 to 4 minutes, to about 10-15 minutes.

Once the glow of morning light started to surface, it was over. Too much moisture in the air, lots of fog. It was a blast though, I wouldn't trade a minute of it. When all said and done, I found 89 out of the 110 objects. I will spend the rest of this year finishing off those remaining 21 objects.

Below is a list of the objects, and notes on which ones viewed. This is a paste from the output from Sky Safari, so I apologize for the length.

Messier Marathon

Messier 74
(Spiral Galaxy in Pisces)

Cetus A - Messier 77
(Spiral Galaxy in Cetus)

Andromeda Galaxy - Messier 31
(Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 8:18:28 PM
Gave up on M74, too much atmosphere!

Messier 32
(Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 8:38:16 PM
Bill helped me identify! I almost missed it.

Messier 110
(Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda)

Pinwheel Galaxy - Messier 33
(Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum)

Messier 52
(Open Cluster in Cassiopeia)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 8:54:08 PM
Looked best with 8mm

Messier 103
(Open Cluster in Cassiopeia)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 9:03:29 PM
Saw with 8mm.

Little Dumbbell Nebula - Messier 76
(Planetary Nebula in Perseus)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 9:21:33 PM
Faint, but there. No definition tonight.

Messier 34
(Open Cluster in Perseus)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 9:34:49 PM
Nice through 25mm.

Messier 79
(Globular Cluster in Lepus)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 9:45:06 PM
Small, not much def

Orion Nebula - Messier 42
(Bright Nebula in Orion)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 9:47:23 PM
Saw with naked eye, bino's, and scope. Wow, way more def than in city!

Messier 43
(Bright Nebula in Orion)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 9:50:51 PM
Just awesome.

Messier 78
(Bright Nebula in Orion)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:00:11 PM
Faint, going to try with O3 filter, no help.

Pleiades - Messier 45
(Open Cluster in Taurus)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:07:10 PM
Naked eye, good with 32mm.

Crab Nebula - Messier 1
(Bright Nebula in Taurus)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:23:25 PM
Done.

Starfish Cluster - Messier 38
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:28:06 PM
Nice.

Pinwheel Cluster - Messier 36
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:29:09 PM
Quick, nice.

Messier 37
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:32:47 PM
Lots of stars on this, nice with 8mm.

Messier 35
(Open Cluster in Gemini)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:37:25 PM

Messier 41
(Open Cluster in Canis Major)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:40:26 PM
Quick find next to Sirius.

Messier 50
(Open Cluster in Monoceros)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:44:06 PM
Busy part of sky, blends in a little.

Messier 93
(Open Cluster in Puppis)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:46:00 PM
Nice cluster.

Messier 46
(Open Cluster in Puppis)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:51:56 PM
Nice tight cluster, can also see NGC2438 within, a planetary nebula. Best viewed with 8mm to see nebula. Can see both 46 & 47 with 32mm in same view.

Messier 47
(Open Cluster in Puppis)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:54:14 PM

Messier 48
(Open Cluster in Hydra)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 10:59:14 PM
Not as dense as recent viewed clusters. Clear.

Messier 67
(Open Cluster in Cancer)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:02:57 PM
Smaller cluster.

Beehive Cluster - Messier 44
(Open Cluster in Cancer)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:10:31 PM
Pretty bright, and spread out. Need 32mm.

Messier 95
(Spiral Galaxy in Leo)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:17:46 PM
Faint galaxy. Meh...

Messier 96
(Spiral Galaxy in Leo)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:26:11 PM
Mars not helping! But found it, faint.

Messier 105
(Elliptical Galaxy in Leo)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:32:03 PM
Can also see NGC3384 in same field of view with 8mm. Fuzzy galazy, no definition.

Messier 65
(Spiral Galaxy in Leo)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:40:58 PM
Can see NGC3628, M65, and M66 in same field of view with 32mm. No definition, but good fuzzies.

Messier 66
(Spiral Galaxy in Leo)
Observed: Mar 16, 2012 11:41:04 PM

Bode's Nebulae - Messier 81
(Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:07:20 AM
Can see both 81 and 82 in same field of view with 32 mm. With 8mm, can't make any definition tonight.

Bode's Nebulae - Messier 82
(Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:08:18 AM
Flat galaxy, with 8mm can see some definition.

Messier 108
(Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:23:11 AM
Can see 108 and 97 both with 32mm. 108 is faint.

Owl Nebula - Messier 97
(Planetary Nebula in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:24:59 AM
Faint, 8mm too much.

Whirlpool Galaxy - Messier 51
(Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:29:00 AM
Can see this better, almost see definition.

Messier 109
(Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:45:45 AM
Faint, not that impressive to me.

Winnecke 4 - Messier 40
(Open Cluster in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 12:54:55 AM
Double star. Oops.

Messier 101
(Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:03:50 AM
Faint, and big. Need wide view.

Spindle Galaxy - Messier 102
(Spiral Galaxy in Draco)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:11:19 AM
Faint, not bright at all, hard to see.

Sombrero Galaxy - Messier 104
(Spiral Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:17:23 AM
Nice galaxy!

Sunflower Galaxy - Messier 63
(Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:23:21 AM
Not bad, bright core.

Messier 94
(Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:28:57 AM
Bright core, easy to find.

Messier 106
(Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:45:12 AM
Was tough to find straight over head. Not very bright, but there.

Messier 3
(Globular Cluster in Canes Venatici)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:52:44 AM
Nice, want 8mm to see. Very tight.

Messier 53
(Globular Cluster in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 1:57:40 AM
Small tight cluster. Need 8mm.

Black Eye Galaxy - Messier 64
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:05:46 AM
Bright, some detail seen.

Messier 85
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:13:25 AM
Can also see NGC4394 in same field. Can see core, rest is faint.

Messier 60
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:24:30 AM
Faint, but can see core. Neighboring NGC barely visible, looks like small faint cloud.

Messier 59
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:25:08 AM
Faint

Messier 58
(Spiral Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:29:23 AM
Found

Messier 89
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:36:32 AM
Was hard to see, and small.

Messier 90
(Spiral Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:39:08 AM
Getting harder to see tonight through air. Found but faint.

Messier 91
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:42:28 AM
Very faint

Messier 88
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:43:36 AM
Easier to find, still dim, not good core.

Virgo A - Messier 87
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:46:49 AM

Markarian's Chain - Messier 86
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:50:09 AM
Found, faint

Markarian's Chain - Messier 84
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:50:29 AM
Found, faint

Coma Pinwheel Galaxy - Messier 99
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:51:55 AM
Very faint, pushing what i can see tonight.

Messier 98
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:53:09 AM
Another real faint one. Looks like side view.

Messier 100
(Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 2:54:52 AM
Found, faint. Hands getting cold.

Messier 49
(Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 3:07:01 AM
Lot of hopping to get here! Brighter then most recent objects viewed.

Messier 61
(Spiral Galaxy in Virgo)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 3:13:28 AM
Faint, round.

Messier 68
(Globular Cluster in Hydra)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 3:43:54 AM
Took break to look at Saturn. Found. Dew is starting.

Messier 83
(Spiral Galaxy in Hydra)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 3:48:06 AM

Hercules Cluster - Messier 13
(Globular Cluster in Hercules)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 3:53:00 AM
Nice, bright, and tight. Best with 8mm.

Messier 92
(Globular Cluster in Hercules)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 3:55:13 AM

Messier 5
(Globular Cluster in Serpens)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:02:46 AM
Nice!

Ring Nebula - Messier 57
(Planetary Nebula in Lyra)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:06:02 AM
Wonderful. Clear ring tonight.

Messier 12
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:09:25 AM
Nice. Love clusters.

Messier 10
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:14:08 AM

Messier 107
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:17:42 AM
Faint.

Messier 80
(Globular Cluster in Scorpius)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:24:53 AM
Small, tight.

Messier 56
(Globular Cluster in Lyra)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:27:58 AM
Small

Messier 4
(Globular Cluster in Scorpius)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:30:09 AM
I bet nice when higher in sky.

Messier 29
(Open Cluster in Cygnus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:33:22 AM
Wimpy!

Messier 14
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:37:34 AM

Messier 9
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:45:20 AM

Messier 71
(Globular Cluster in Sagitta)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:52:36 AM
Weak

Dumbbell Nebula - Messier 27
(Planetary Nebula in Vulpecula)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:53:39 AM
Easy

Messier 62
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 4:57:50 AM

Messier 19
(Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:04:13 AM

Wild Duck Cluster - Messier 11
(Open Cluster in Scutum)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:20:26 AM

Messier 39
(Open Cluster in Cygnus)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:30:14 AM

Messier 26
(Open Cluster in Scutum)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:37:03 AM

Eagle Nebula - Messier 16
(Bright Nebula in Serpens)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:51:22 AM

Omega Nebula - Messier 17
(Bright Nebula in Sagittarius)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:51:27 AM

Messier 18
(Open Cluster in Sagittarius)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:51:57 AM

Sagittarius Star Cloud - Messier 24
(Open Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 23
(Open Cluster in Sagittarius)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:54:54 AM

Messier 25
(Open Cluster in Sagittarius)
Observed: Mar 17, 2012 5:55:49 AM

Lagoon Nebula - Messier 8
(Bright Nebula in Sagittarius)

Trifid Nebula - Messier 20
(Bright Nebula in Sagittarius)

Messier 21
(Open Cluster in Sagittarius)

Ptolemy's Cluster - Messier 7
(Open Cluster in Scorpius)

Butterfly Cluster - Messier 6
(Open Cluster in Scorpius)

Messier 22
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 28
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 69
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 54
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 15
(Globular Cluster in Pegasus)

Messier 70
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 72
(Globular Cluster in Aquarius)

Messier 75
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 73
(Open Cluster in Aquarius)

Messier 2
(Globular Cluster in Aquarius)

Messier 55
(Globular Cluster in Sagittarius)

Messier 30
(Globular Cluster in Capricornus)

[Paulie pchris00]

I'm still working on my report. I saw 74 of 110 objects, and have serous doubts about Mr. Charles's astronomical observing abilities.

[patrickm]

Paulie, what do you mean about M. Messier?

[Paulie pchris00]

M40, M102.

M84, M85, M86.

M42, M43, M44, M45.

NGC 884, NGC 869.

I will try to go into detail in my report, but these are good examples of my doubts.

[Paulie pchris00]

To be fair, a detailed thread and analysis of how and when Charles compiled the catalog is probably in order. I may just do that, but first I want to finish my report.

[patrickm]

M40 from SkySafari

Messier 40 is one of the three unusual objects in Messier's catalog. It is a double star, which was also cataloged later as Winnecke 4 (WNC 4). Most probably, it is an optical double star, i.e. a chance alignment of two independent stars at different distances.

Messier 40 is a wide, 50 arc second pair of 9th magnitude stars. While Messier was searching for a nebula at the position specified by Johann Hevelius in 1660, he saw this pair of stars. He stated that it was difficult to separate the double, and saw no nebula, but included the stars in his catalogue anyhow.

The double, with components of visual magnitude 9.0 and 9.3, was re-observed by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke at Pulkovo Observatory in 1863, at the same position as Messier's description. Just 16' from this double star is the faint galaxy NGC 4290, which Hevelius could not have seen with his small telescope. Thus, M 40 is associated with the double star Winnecke 4, and not the galaxy NGC 4290.

At the time of Winnecke's discovery, the angular separation between the double star's components was 49.2"; it gradually increased to 52.8" in 1991, as measured by the Hipparcos satellite. Their observed relative proper motion is consistent with straight-line, independent motion; i.e. one star is crossing between us and the other.

Spectroscopic evidence gathered by Brian Skiff in 2001 also supports the hypothesis of an optical double star. The primary component (HD 238107) has a spectral type of K0 III; the secondary (HD 238108) is of type G0 V. From these spectral types, the stars have masses of 1.1 and 1.2 Suns, absolute magnitudes of +0.88 and +4.0, and implied distances of 1900 and 550 light-years. Thus the secondary component may be much closer to us than the brighter primary (but with great uncertainty due to observational inaccuracies). Additional investigations would be welcome to confirm these preliminary results.

[patrickm]

Messier 102, NGC 5866 - Spindle Galaxy from SkySafari

Messier 102 is one of the "missing" Messier objects that have not been identified unambiguously. Its original discoverer, Pierre Mechain, claimed that M 102 was a duplicate observation of M 101, in a 1783 letter to Bernoulli in Berlin. But there are historical and observational reasons to believe otherwise.

Owen Gingerich has suggested NGC 5866 as a worthy object with which to fill this blank in Messier's catalogue. This galaxy appears to closely match both Mechain's object description in the 1781 printed version of the Messier Catalog of 1781, and the object position listed by Charles Messier in his hand-written notes.

NGC 5866 is a fine, bright galaxy with an apparent magnitude of 9.9 and an angular size of 5.2' x 2.3', elongated northwest to southeast, and containing a broad bright 3.25' x 1.25' core. The galaxy is distinctively spindle-shaped. An inconspicuous stellar nucleus is just discernible at the center of the grainy envelope. A narrow dust lane cuts across the core.

Due to its appearance, NGC 5866 is often called the "Spindle Galaxy". In fact, two different galaxies are known by this moniker; the other Spindle Galaxy is NGC 3115 in Sextans.

Like NGC 3115, NGC 5866 is a lenticular galaxy (type S0) seen almost edge-on. It lies about 40 million light-years away. NGC 5866 is part of a group of galaxies (the NGC 5866 group), which also contains NGC 5907 and 5879, as well as many fainter galaxies. From the movements of the galaxies in the group, NGC 5866's mass has been estimated at 1 trillion solar masses.

[patrickm]

So do you just hate him because he's French or because he was observing with a drug store telescope?

I posted a list of his scopes here: astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotonewpost&board=astronomers&thread=3754

At about 100x, MAYBE better than dime store, but I cannot imagine the narrow FOV with which he must have been working. On the plus side, he had infinitely darker skies.

[Paulie pchris00]

I don't want to take this thread too off topic, so I will eventually post my findings elsewhere. I really do want to understand how and when the list was compiled, and try to figure out if the order correlates to comet searches and/or follow-up observations of recently discovered comets.

However, I do think Messier got lazy about his list.

On February 16, 1771 he presented the first version of his Catalog of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, with the first 45 objects, to the Paris Academy of Sciences.

messier.seds.org/xtra/history/biograph.html

Forty-five objects in the first publication, huh? M40= double star, and M42-45 are all naked eye objects. I've seen it suggested that he was padding his list just to make it longer than a competitor's.


I think I'm going to have a look around soon for the book recommended here:

stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/57927-questions-comments-primer-messier-catalog.html

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chuckie was pantless and drunk at the time.

I have nothing else.

[jeremy]

Ahhhh, is that why we didn't catch all 110? We were way too sober, and to my knowledge pants stayed on by all.

[atomant]

Can't blame the guy.
He lost his wife and kid at height of his career.

I have seen all the messier objects but never in one observing session.
It was sorta fun to race against the clock and the weather conditions.
I bagged 72 with the 120mm shorty f/5 refractor.
I was using a 2in 35mm eyepiece at 17x.
It was good to see the objects thru different scopes.
In some instances, it was neat fitting several objects in the super wide view.
Especially liked the Virgo area and the Summer Milky Way area.

The still humid conditions also provided what I think is the best view of Saturn I've seen thru 8in dob (Jeremy's)

[Paulie pchris00]

Almost done with my report, but probably not going to finish it until tomorrow morning.

[Paulie pchris00]

I had never attempted a Messier Marathon before, let alone organize one. As the newly appointed Observing Director of Calumet Astronomical Society, I designated Friday, March 16 as a members observing night at Conway Observatory, with special emphasis on a Messier Marathon. I also invited a couple of friends from Chicago to join me for the Messier Marathon. Also, the Monday before the Marathon I was asked to have a training session for the observatory’s 16” telescope. I was okay with that, but also knew that it could easily interfere with the early part of the MM.

I arrived at Conway at 5PM to prep the observatory and look for any files that might be useful for the training session. I ate some burgers I picked up on the way, and made a pot of coffee to set out for the members. By 6:00 PM, members were arriving and setting up telescopes. I had already pulled out both of my scopes, and also an 8” loaner Dob from the basement storage. I was planning on doing the MM from the concrete circle, and thought I might want the extra 2” of aperture for some of the fainter targets. That would let the new trainees get familiar with the 16” telescope, and let me judge my progress with Jeremy, Bill, and John, who I knew were staying all night for the MM. At 6:30 I started the training class by going over the observatory rules and access policy. Just before sunset we were ready to go upstairs to open the roof and prep the 16” telescope. Just as Venus popped through the evening twilight, the trainees were ready to slew the telescope to their first target of the night.




Gear out, and ready for the night.




Craig solar observing.




Mike setting up.




Jeff setting up.










Larry sets up his truss tube Dob.




Quick solar observing for me.


Venus, Jupiter, and Mars shined down on us early, and most of my class had never seen them through the 16” telescope. I was done with the class when Bill and John arrived, so I gave John a quick tour of the place, and let him have a look at Jupiter, Mars, and M42 with the 16”. Wow, wow, and WOW. Yep.






Sunset.




Roger works the 16" LX200.






Jim and Jeff wait their turn.





Jeremy was already searching for the early galaxies, M74 and M77, which are difficult at best. I was almost set to go myself when somebody pulled me away again. A guy had stopped by curious about what we do and how to join. I showed him around and let him and his wife look at the bright planets that were up before getting back to the Marathon.

FINALLY. Observing time. I really wanted to start the night off right by catching the faint galaxies of M74, M77, and M33. Jeremy had all but given up on them, but managed to track down M31 and companions. I was struggling with it, and gladly had a look through Jeremy’s Dob for M31 & 32? At 8:33 PM. At 8:46 I thought I found M52, an open cluster in CAS. I wasn’t positive about it, so again, when Jeremy said he’d found it, I had a look at 8:54. I was pretty sure at that point that I hadn’t found 52 at all. Pushing 9:00 PM, two hours after sunset and I hadn’t logged a Messier of my own yet. That was about to change.

At 9:01 I logged open cluster M103 in CAS. This reminded me of mini versions of the summer asterisms Sagitta and the Coathanger. After struggling again on something (not sure what), I pulled out my binoculars for Suburu, M45 at 9:11 PM. Yeah, yeah, it’s easy, but I needed the confidence boost. Number 2.

Somewhere around this time, from the other side of the observing circle, Larry asked me to come over and confirm that he had found our long-running icy friend Garradd. It was good to see the comet again, especially without having to waste time tracking it down. Ha! I saw a comet. Take that, Messier!

Perseus was heading toward the northwest light dome, so it’s two Messier’s had to be checked off while I had lower magnitude guide stars to find them. I checked off planetary nebula M76 at 9:26 PM. It needs power, and an OIII filter helps, but it was visible without it. I don’t think I even starhopped to M34, but picked up the faint glow through my finder scope. Finally an easy one!

Next I headed south of Orion to Lepus for my first globular cluster of the night, M79, at 9:42 PM. I stopped at the very familiar M42 & 43 just long enough to write them down, then on to M78, another diffuse nebula in Orion. I actually found M78 easily enough, but wasn’t convinced of it. I was expecting something more like M42 or M8. What I saw was two stars and a faint glow. I reworked my starhop several times, and kept coming back to it. When the others were seeing the exact same thing as I was, I logged it at 10:02 PM.

For the very beginning of Frenchy’s list, I went up to the 16” scope. The 8” Dob I was working with would have done just fine, but this one is great with large aperture. Logged the Crab at 10:08 PM. I’d been working through the list for over an hour and a half, and had only logged 12 objects; two were naked eye objects, and three I hadn’t even found myself. Time to go on a roll, and Auriga was the perfect place to start that roll.

M35, open cluster, GEM- 10:21 PM.
M37, open cluster, AUR- 10:24 PM.
M36, open cluster, AUR- 10:26 PM.
M38, open cluster, AUR- 10:27 PM.

Four clusters, six minutes. Much better. Added open cluster M41 below Sirius to the list at 10:28. Five in seven minutes. Heating up, but yet another open cluster, M93 in PUP, slowed me down again, not observed until 10:45 PM. M93 shares PUP with two more Messier open clusters, M47 & M46. M47 was logged at 10:50 PM. Although they are right next to each, I didn’t officially log M46 until 11:00 PM. I had no trouble finding it; I just felt that as long as I was there, it was worth the time to find the cluster’s hidden planetary nebula, NGC 2438. It was visible, but not discernible. Popping in an OIII filter dimmed the background cluster enough to reveal the faint glow of the dying star. Worth the time and effort, I think.

From M46, I made my way up to open cluster M48 in HYA at 11:10PM. “Not too bad” is my only comment on the cluster. After that, M50 in MON should have been next. Looking at a chart now, it should have been a fairly easy find, but I gave up on it. Sitting between Sirius and Procyon, there just aren’t many bright stars between the Dogs to get a close starting point.

I didn’t like giving up on M50, but I didn’t want to fall further off the pace. I was running behind the others, and felt pressured to catch up, even at the expense of a Messier object I’d never seen. I was quite happy to see M44, the Beehive Cluster next on the list. It was “too friggin’ big” for my 25mm eyepiece, so I took a nice look at the cluster through the finder scope, somehow avoiding back injury. After the Beehive, a short trip south through Cancer brought me to M67, a “small, tight” open cluster I’d never seen. I won’t be making the mistake of passing it over nearly as often now.

After logging M67 at 11:28 PM, the Leo galaxies were next in the order of my observing plan, but I deviated from that plan. Ursa Major was swinging around to the darkest part of the sky it would be in. For some reason the Big Bear gives me fits, even M101, which is an easy starhop above the handle. I was going to need as many guide stars as I could get, so wanted to get through UMA before it headed into the background glow to the northwest. I started with the galactic pairing of M81 & M82 at 11:38 PM. Along the bottom of the Dipper, spiral galaxy M108 looks easy enough to target, but this dim, edge-on spiral is hard to spot. I found it at 11:46 PM. From there, planetary nebula M97 is practically right next door. This is a large planetary, but dim. Once again, I gave it a look with the OIII filter at 11:53 PM. The next target, spiral galaxy M109 is not much trouble to target, but “very dim.” Duly recorded at 11:57 PM, I moved on. As noted above, spiral galaxy M101 has some nice stars to point the way, yet I had to make this starhop several times before finding it at 12:06 AM.

Here is where I started having doubts about Messieur Messier. I had conflicting data about spiral galaxy M102. One of my sources listed it as NGC 5866, but another said it was a duplication of M101. It wasn’t listed in the index of my star atlas, so I skipped it for the time being. Later, I would regret that decision, but I had doubts that it even belonged on the list.

We’re all familiar with M51, just off the Dipper in Canes Venatici. There are three other Messier galaxies nearby in the Hunting Dogs. I started with M51 and companion at 12:08 AM, then started my starhop for M94 at Beta CVN. M94 forms the point of an isosceles triangle with Beta and Alpha CVN as the baseline. I lined up the finder scope at what I thought was the appropriate spot, and there it was. 12:12 AM. M63 is about 2° northwest of 4.73 magnitude 20 CVN. I found the galaxy at 12:15 AM. The last Messier galaxy of the Dogs is M106. It lies about halfway between Gamma UMa and Beta CVN. M106 has a visual magnitude of 8.4, but a surface brightness of only 13.6. I didn’t find it, and was losing time in the search.

The next targets were worth seeing with the 16”, so I went upstairs for a look not only at the Leo galaxies, but a quick diversion to see the Red Planet. First, though, was a quick stop to the Sombrero Galaxy, M104. The Sombrero is technically a Virgo galaxy, but it’s just north of the border with Corvus, and I always start my starhop at Delta Corvus. Throwing high power at M104 reveals it’s famous dust lane. I shared the view, and logged the Sombrero at 12:45 AM.

Moving to Leo, the next target was one of the easiest to find, at least this night. Spiral galaxy M96 shared the field of view with Mars. Cheating? Maybe, but I still needed to make up time. After observing Mars, I nudged to telescope southwest so that the galaxy and Mars shared the 40mm eyepiece of the 16”. It might be the first time I’ve ever seen a galaxy and planet together. M95 is just west of M96, so again I nudged the telescope over, and logged the pair at 12:53 AM. Next was M105, just northeast of M96. The cool thing about M105 is that it shares the field of view with galaxies NGC3384 and NGC3389. I saw them all at 12:56 AM. Below 70 Leonis lies the pair of galaxies M66 and M65. Again, I caught them sharing the field of view. It’s nice to check off two at a time, which I did at 1:00 AM.

I went back down the observing circle to work the objects in Coma Berenices. First, though, I had M40 on my list. Again, I was cussing Messieur Charles. This is just a double star, and not a good one at that. Knowing that Messier first published his catalog at 45 objects, and with M42 through 45 being naked eye visible, I really feel that he was just padding the list for publication. I can’t prove it, but it makes sense. Of course, M40 wasn’t listed in my star atlas, but after some investigating, I’m pretty sure I tracked down the right double, and noted it at 1:12 AM.

Around this time Jeremy was hunting M102. As I stated above, I had conflicting data on M102. One source listed it as a duplication of M101, while another said it was NGC5866. After hearing what Jeremy read from his source, I decided that I would try to hunt down NGC5866 in Draco. Still cussing and complaining about Messier’s observing skills, Draco had moved into the glow from the cities and towns to the northwest. I gave up on it, but will put a higher priority on it for my next Messier Marathon. But once again, I lost a lot of time on something I hadn’t even found.

Before getting to the galaxies of Bernice’s Hair, at 1:29 AM I found the globular cluster M3 in Canes Venetici, near where it converges with Coma and Bootes. I love globular clusters, and M3 was only the second one on the list. Globular cluster M53 was in the area though, and observed next at 1:38 AM. M53 lies about 1 degree east of Alpha COM. Very faint, and now in the running with M107 as the worst Messier globular. The famous Virgo Cluster of Galaxies is concentrated in Virgo, but some of the physical members of the cluster spill over into Coma. M64 is the northern-most Messier member of the cluster, off by itself. I found it less than a degree from 4.9 magnitude 35 Comae. I had my first galaxy of the cluster at 1:47 AM, but I wasn’t quite ready to dive into the thick of them yet.

The Messier objects of Hydra, M68 and M83 were near the central meridian, and about as high as they were going to be. Neither was very high above the horizon, so I had to take advantage while they were peaking. Globular cluster M68 lies about three degrees south of Beta CRV. When I found it 1:56 AM, I found no resolvable stars, but the transparency was terrible, especially that low to the south. At 2:04 AM I found the spiral galaxy M83. In my notes I wrote, “faint,” then started to write, “Wha…” but crossed it out. I think I was ready to badmouth Chuckie again…

With Hydra knocked out, I was ready to tackle the Virgo Cluster. I really expected to run right through these galaxies. My experience of early morning February 19 touring some of the Virgo galaxies was relatively fresh in my mind. Also, I thought I was going to use the 16” LX200 to go through the cluster. Fate had other ideas, and left me spooked as well.

Just as I was getting ready to go upstairs to the observatory, I turned around and swore I saw white light flash across the parking lot, like a car was pulling in. We’d had several cars turn in already, just to leave when the saw us observing. I was ready to let somebody have it for showing up uninvited after 2AM, but there was no car there to be seen. Freaky, but okay. We had lightning flashes later in the morning, so maybe that’s all I saw. I went upstairs to work the 16”, but the freaky would continue.

On an equatorial mount with a wide field eyepiece, the Virgo cluster is easy to go through. Many of the galaxies can be found by slowly slewing in only one direction from the previous galaxy. This makes it very easy to galaxy hop through the cluster. When I used the LX200 for Mars and the Leo galaxies, the handset was behaving oddly. It was annoying, but usable. It acted like it was rebooting several times, and didn’t want to slew at the slowest control speed. With new members using the telescope earlier in the night, I thought maybe settings had been changed (inadvertently or not). Or perhaps dew, which was became a problem after midnight, was shorting the wiring. At any rate, I didn’t have the time to investigate. I was going to turn the power off and head back down to the 8” Dob, but first the 16” decided to slew of it’s own accord. I ran down to the control room, and flipped the power switch. I was freaked out. Spooky incident number two in just a matter of minutes. I was ready to get back outside, but as I opened the door, it looked like it was locked from the inside. WTF? I had just come through the door without a key! I hurried back down to the concrete circle with the feeling that Messier was messing with me for cussing him out! I know that sounds crazy, but I’d just had a little too much crazy. I needed coffee.

Settled down and caffeinated (not at all an oxymoron to me), was finally ready for the Virgo Cluster. I did NOT want to do this with a Dob. I’ll try to spare every little detail, but I knew that I was going to be doing a lot of backtracking through galaxies, starting all over again, or both. First up was M98. I got REAL familiar with M98. I started at Denebola (Beta LEO), then went nearly due east to 6 COM. M98 is less than one degree from 5.1 magnitude 6 COM, the brightest star in the area. Also, being the westernmost of the 14 galaxies at the heart of the Virgo cluster, it made sense to use M98 as my starting point. I first saw it at 2:23 AM. Practically right next to it is M99. I didn’t log M99 until 2:34 AM, eleven minutes later. Nope, I did NOT want to do this with a Dob.

Long story short, I was very methodical as I went through the Virgo cluster. I made sure that I was not mistaking one galaxy for another by confirming them through the galaxies surrounding each one. All told, it took me one hour, eighteen minutes to observe the sixteen Virgo Cluster galaxies starting with M98 and finishing with M61 at 3:41 AM, an average of one galaxy every five minutes. Not shabby, but I felt I could have done better. Again though, conditions were poor at the beginning of the night, and continued deteriorating through the night.

Virgo Cluster

M98- 2:23 AM.
M99- 2:34 AM.
M100- 2:50 AM.
M84 & M86- 2:58 AM. Shared field of view.
M49- 3:05 AM.
M87- 3:07 AM.
M58- 3:09 AM.
M89- 3:12 AM.
M90- 3:16 AM.
M59 & M60- 3:18 AM. Shared field of view.
M88- 3:35 AM.
M91- 3:35 AM.
M61- 3:41 AM.

When I finished the Virgo Cluster, Jeremy was having a look at Saturn. This was a nice planetary break after the intense concentration of finding the faint Virgo galaxies. I have to say, this was my best view of Saturn ever. Really. If I remember right, Jeremy was pushing unreal magnification, using his 3x Barlow and 8mm EP. The air was still enough to support it, though, and it was like looking at the system from Cassini. If Saturn looked this good every time, there would be no doubt what planet would be my favorite. Sorry Patrick.

Now we’re pushing 4 AM, everything is soaked with dew, and we started seeing lightning flashes with no clouds in sight. By 4:30, though, I could see clouds in the lightning to the northwest against the dome of Purdue Calumet’s NIRO observatory. I closed the roof then, just in case a storm popped up.

After the diversion of Saturn, I was ready for some easy observing. I chose M29, an open cluster in Cygnus to resume the Marathon. Against the star rich field of the Cygnus Milky Way, this cluster isn’t impressive. Recorded it at 3:56 AM, and went to Lyra. Normally M57, the Ring Nebula, is one of the best objects to observe. For the Marathon, however, I was content to log it at 3:57 AM, and move on. Ditto for globular cluster M13 in Hercules, at 4:03 AM. The Little Brother glob in Hercules gave me some trouble, but I finally found it at 4:12 AM. Those two put me on a glob kick, though.

M107 in Ophiuchus is an unimpressive, tiny, faint globular. It’s an interesting starhop (if you go the long way around). This might be the worst Messier glob, but I found it at 4:17 AM. I was going to try for the rest of the globs in Ophiuchus, but transparency was so terrible that I could hardly make out the naked eye stars of the constellation, let alone find dimmer stars for a proper starhop. I gave up, and went over to my constellation, the Scorpion. M4, just off Antares (Alpha SCO), was easy enough at 4:25 AM. M80 was harder, found at 4:32 AM.

After closing the roof I decided to take all of my observing gear except telescope into the observatory basement to dry out under the heater. The sky was just too bad for serious observing, and I knew my Marathon was over. I managed to add six more objects to my list just to make my final tally slightly more respectable, but if I couldn’t find something in a matter of minutes, I skipped it. This was the summer sky, where I’m very much at home, and have seen most of it’s Messier objects repeatedly, as well as a good chunk of it’s NGC objects. For deep sky observing, nothing makes me happier than glob-hopping through the summer constellations, so I was disappointed that the sky wasn’t going to let me see my favorite treasures. I have all summer to get reacquainted, though. Slowly, and between cursory searches, I started closing down the observatory.

Ptolemy’s Cluster, M7, was a somewhat easy find at 4:53 AM. M7 lies about 5° east of Lambda Scorpius, and is naked eye visible under dark skies. With his shorty refractor, Bill showed me a wide field view that included M20, M21, and M8. Right after that I went after the big, bright M22. M22 is special to me. When I first bought my Dob in 2008, Jupiter was hanging out in Sagittarius. I had bought my Dob for lunar and planetary observing, thinking that the 6” aperture was too small for deep sky objects. One night at home I realized that I could see a hint of the summer Milky Way overhead. Immediately I started scanning the sky through my finder scope, and quickly saw M22 glowing. It was the first DSO I ever saw on my own, and to this day is one of my favorites. For the Marathon, I logged it at 5:29 AM. Lastly, I found globular cluster M28, about 1° northwest of Lambda SGR. That was my 74th and final Messier object of the night.

By 6:00 AM, the sky was getting brighter in the east, and we started losing stars. We could also see just how thick the fog surrounding us was. We had warm temperatures all night, at worst only dipping into the upper 50’s. Some of the guys who were out for the members observing session chided us that it wasn’t a Messier Marathon unless it was 30° or colder. I almost would have welcomed a cold night if it would have given us a crisp, transparent sky. We fought for every object we saw, especially in the later hours. I was impressed with the observing skills of John, Bill, and especially Jeremy. I remember Jeremy’s first night at Conway last summer, using his binoculars and borrowing my Dob to observe. He’s come a long way since then, and was without a doubt the most intense observer throughout the MM. He was finding dim fuzzies right up until the morning sky became too bright. Thanks to all of them for staying out all night, and pushing me to try to get through as much of the catalog as I could. Maybe next year we’ll have more favorable sky conditions, and catch all 110. There are now only a small handful of Messier objects I’ve never seen, and those will get high priority to observe in the next year.






Morning fog all around us. We'd been observing through it for a couple hours, at least.




Purdue Calumet's NIRO observatory is barely visible, only about 100 yards away.








Foggy sunrise.





Our all night Marathon crew. L-R: Me, John, Bill, Jeremy.




Time to go.


I will edit in the pics later.

[jeremy]

Great write up Paulie! Man, mine was mostly just a cut and paste from my application, you really wrote this up right. Thank you for the kind words as well on my progress, you have had no small part in inspiring my learning over this year since we first met.

I'm really glad we got to try this!

[patrickm]

As always, great write up, Paulie! I love reading your stuff. I felt like I was there with you, though with slightly worse views. I can sense your energy & your frustration!

Sorry I missed it.

So...anybody know the best book on M. Messier?

[Paulie pchris00]

Pics are now up.

[atomant]

That is one intense observing report!

Looking forward to next outing to savor these objects!

[Paulie pchris00]

I'm out at Conway tonight. Looks like it's going to be a sucker hole kind of night, but I'm going to practice for next month's Messier Marathon as much as possible, and write myself a list of notes for finding some of the ones that either give me trouble, or that I haven't observed much. Whatever notes I come up with, I'd be happy to share with anybody that's planning on doing a MM. I'll be relying heavily on what I wrote in the report above if I don't get much observing tonight.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Good luck tonight Paulie. I'm excited about the marathon next month and have been looking around for a new eyepiece. I may try to go for something in the 100 degree FOV range to stick in the dob.

[Paulie pchris00]

Been clouded out for about two hours now. I think it's time to pack up and go home. I seriously want to write up some notes to use in the field to help find the more obscure ones. This would have been a great weekend to practice. The weekend of March 1 might not be so bad, either, but will have the Moon to contend with sometime after midnight. I hope the weather cooperates on March 8, because the next night is a public open house. We could try it as a backup night, but would most likely miss a lot of the early objects if there is a big crowd to tend to.