What’s a Messier marathon?
Well in the 1700’s a French astronomer was looking for comets. He kept
track of every fuzzy thing that he found in the sky that did not move and was
not a comet. As viewed through modern telescopes, these have turned out to be
some of the most spectacular deep space objects that can be seen from earth from
the northern hemisphere. Every year, usually in the spring – when the timing is
right – there is a weekend or two near the new moon when it is possible for the
observer in North America to attempt to see all 110 objects found by
Charles Messier in his entire career … in one
night! It’s an all night astronomy marathon. Are you ready for the challenge?
Time is of the essence. Your search must be organized in order to catch the
first few before they dip below the horizon. It slows down for a bit and then
picks up a frenzied pace as the galaxies in the Virgo cluster appear. One must
fight dew and fatigue … and hope that nature cooperates. This is not a
night for careful observing. one must find an object, confirm that it is the
right one and then move on to the next.
OVAS Messier Marathon Records
2000 - Dave Tolley - 40 objects (?with a C8?)
2001 - Dave Tolley - 103 objects - TV101
2002 -clouds
2003 - Dave's record stands
What was it like? Not too cold, No wind, but very muddy (schlorp squish). Dave Tolley was there with his TV101, Jeff Ball brought the TV 101 and took pictures, Don Kemper had his 10" Cave, I (Rodger Blake) brought the 10" f5.6 Discovery dob. We were not as organized as in '01. We had a smattering of snacks and drinks with caffeine. Fortunately Dave brought his Messier Marathon book which had descriptions and the locations of the Messier Objects that one could use to compare to the EP view. Don brought a planisphere which I used several times in trying to see if a constellation would rise higher in the sky. I used this info to help decide when to look for what.
There was an early rush to find the twilight objects, a slower period, a burst period as we probed the Virgo Galaxy cluster, a quiet time from 2-4, then a frenzy of activity as we searched for the "Summer" objects. Don and I had a "personal best" kind of an evening. it was nice to be out with friends observing after so long an interval. It was nice to glimpse views of so many beautiful objects. Though there was the sense that one had to "push on", several time Don and I stopped for longer views of favorite objects. What a treat, a "tour de sky". We searched for objects, shared views in our scopes, shared snacks and had warm fellowship on a cold night. After we took down the scopes and broke camp, we headed for Tudor’s for breakfast. I had 102, Don 98, Dave ??? and Jeff ? Well Jeff was taking pictures. II can’t wait to see the Pictures! At least he can show us what he shot. What about the reports?
Rodger's or Don's or Jeff'sDon's Advice for next year: Don's Messier Marathon Advice
Here is a link to a page with the
Sky and Telescope Messier Marathon Checklist reproduced as a "jpg" file. Use this to track your progress and to decide the order in which to find things.Here is the link to the
SEDS site for the 2001 Messier Marathon. This is the link to their "generic" Messier Marathon site.