From: Deborah Hambly, Astronomy Adventures
Date: Jun 8, 2006 2:15 AM
Subject: Messier Marathon report from New Zealand


First Annual Messier Marathon . Sky dome observatory . Baylys Beach . Near
Dargaville . Northland, New Zealand

Messier Marathon 2007: First clear night of Fri 13th, Sat 14th, Fri 20th
or Sat 21st

Friday the 21st of April was the first of four possible dates for our
first Messier Marathon. The day dawned with brilliant sun and not a cloud
in the sky. Marathon participants started showing up in mid-afternoon
which allowed time for a walk on the beach and kept arriving until the
early part of the challenge. We had 12. and 8. reflectors, 6. and 3.
refractors (both equatorially mounted and driven), and a pair of
binoculars all set up in front of SkyDome observatory at Baylys Beach. We
attracted a large audience of sidewalk passerbys who were fascinated with
all of the equipment and then impressed with the views of Saturn.

During the evening we took in 24 Galaxies, 15 Galactic clusters (open), 5
Globular clusters, 3 Nebulae and 1 Supernova Remnant from the Messier
List.  Although we were interrupted by cloud at 2:30am, everyone comments
on the remarkably good seeing and dark sky around the new observatory.

Our first target was M45, Matariki which we viewed through binoculars
before it set. We continued picking up 3 more in Auriga, and enjoyed the
moonless night to take in M1 the Crab. The Orion messier objects (M78,
42,43, 79) were easy targets. We moved on through Gemini (M35) and Cancer
(M44, 67) and then were pleasantly surprised at the lovely heart shape
presented by M50 in Monoceros, mid-way between Sirius and Procyn. This was
a target we seemed to have all previously looked over and we ogled it with
admiration vowing to add it to our lists of favourite open clusters.

The night was crisp, our dew shields and hats were on, and we relaxed
feeling safe that we had made a good start. We continued on with Canis
Major, Puppis and Hydra picking up another 4 open clusters
(M41,47,46,48,93). Then we came to Leo, sitting perfectly due North, but
with more challenging objects . the start of the feared faint galaxies
(M95,96,65,66). M105 is listed as the smallest apparent diameter of all
the Messier objects at 4 arc seconds. However, there were many fainter
galaxies to come before the night would be over. We noted that Globular
cluster (M3) in Canes Venatici which was described as .bright and large.
but after having seen the best globular .Omega Centuri. earlier in the
evening, found that all others really seemed insignificant by comparison.
The Black Eye galaxy (M64) in the Coma cluster of galaxies
(M98,M99,M100,M85) took real imagination, and I noted that the Globular
M53 was even less impressive than M3.

Next up were the Virgo galaxies (M84,86, 87,89,90,88,91,58,59,60,49,61 and
104).  Virgo was a little lower on the horizon, and we worked through
these as a team comparing notes on our view through the eyepiece to verify
that we were actually all looking at the same thing! For example, I saw
M87 as a peace sign with the galaxy at the top end of the symbol.

Meanwhile we had checked the transit times of the Great red spot on
Jupiter and we watched as it approached the centre. In the early hours of
the morning we looked up the co-ordinates of the comet Shwassmann-Wachmann
and saw at least one of the fragments in the constellation Corona Borealis
after defogging our scopes with hairdryers. It was another addition to our
list that Messier would have been proud of, given the purpose of the
Messier list was to document objects that might be mistaken for comets.

A couple of clouds blurred our view of the horizon and we skipped past the
objects in Sepens, Lyra, Hercules, Cygnus, Vulpeca, Sagitta and
Ophichious. Looking nearly directly overhead we continued with Scorpious
and Corona Australis picking up the Cats Eye (M4), and several others
(M80,19,6,7). We tried our filters out on M62 the flicking nebula, but
couldn.t detect any nebulosity appearing.

As the crescent moon rose, faint clouds rolled in, and we were forced to
finish our marathon early. We waited until 4:30 am, drinking copious cups
of coffee and tea but we were not able to pick up any more targets.
However, we were glad to have made a great attempt of it, to have
succeeded with the most difficult galaxies, and all agreed to try it again
next year!



Astronomy Adventures
http://homepages.igrin.co.nz/astronomy/