Post by Paulie pchris00 on Mar 26, 2015 20:08:33 GMT -6
This has been a busy week, and I'm still trying to finalize my notes, but last weekend we had a Messier Marathon at Conway Observatory. Chicago Astronomers Joe, Bill, and Patrick were in attendance, as well as CAS members Larry and Don. New CAS member Max and his mother Zara also attended to see the planets early in the night.
Of my three attempted Messier Marthons, this was my best yet. Despite some high cirrus clouds moving through until around midnight, this was the best sky conditions I've had for a MM. I saw 95 of the 110 object Messier Catalog, and found 86 of them. I was better prepared for this MM than my two previous attempts, having spent the entire week prior studying star charts, and creating my own set of charts using the planetarium program Cartes du Ciel. I'm pretty sure the preparation made a huge difference.
Full report as soon as I can.
Of my three attempted Messier Marthons, this was my best yet. Despite some high cirrus clouds moving through until around midnight, this was the best sky conditions I've had for a MM. I saw 95 of the 110 object Messier Catalog, and found 86 of them. I was better prepared for this MM than my two previous attempts, having spent the entire week prior studying star charts, and creating my own set of charts using the planetarium program Cartes du Ciel. I'm pretty sure the preparation made a huge difference.
Full report as soon as I can.