Messier Marathon 2009

For the 2009 Messier Marathon, the years for a simultaneous all-planet marathon will be definitely over, with Uranus in conjunction with the Sun (i.e., behind the Sun) on March 13. It will not become available during Messier Marathon time during the next few years, and is supposed to be possible again earliest in about 2018. By then, Neptune will have become impossible, and continue to stay so for the years until the 2040s; it has already becoming difficult in 2009 (conjunction was on February 12) but may perhaps be spotted deep near horizon in the morning. Also, this year Mercury will be impossible at it will be in superior conjunction on March 31. Venus will come into inferior conjunction on March 27, but as it will be about 8deg North of the Sun and due to its brightness, it may perhaps even be spotted twice for Northern hemisphere observers, both shortly after sunset in the West, and shortly before sunrise in the East.

Some comets brighter than about mag 14.0 will be visible; we will list them below from various sources (e.g., IAU's Observable Comets page, Skyhound's Comet Chasing page, Gary Kronk's list of current comets and the Fachgruppe Kometen list):

Comet                       RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag    RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag
                                March 25, 2009            March 30, 2009

67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko   03:08.70 +20:40.4  13.3   03:28.04 +22:11.3  13.4
C/2008 T2 (Cardinal)        04:37.57 +46:44.2   9.5   04:50.26 +44:11.4   9.4
85P/Boethin                 05:19.10 +26:24.4  12.5   05:34.40 +26:25.0  12.8
C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring)   05:33.76 -30:44.3  11.9   05:38.52 -28:58.9  11.9
C/2006 OF2 (Broughton)      06:31.66 +37:02.9  12.9   06:37.09 +36:09.5  13.0
144P/Kushida                06:49.01 +17:14.2  12.7   07:03.40 +17:00.5  12.9
C/2007 N3 (Lulin)           06:56.90 +22:03.6   7.5   06:48.09 +22:13.6   7.9
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1  07:40.05 +23:23.3  15.7   07:40.36 +23:17.7  15.7  Outbursts! c. 11m
116P/Wild                   09:18.97 +19:47.7  12.6   09:18.85 +19:35.2  12.6
65P/Gunn                    12:18.41 +13:20.8  14.1   12:14.52 +13:38.4  14.1
C/2006 Q1 (McNaught)        16:49.98 +24:00.1  13.5   16:50.42 +25:23.8  13.5
22P/Kopff                   18:56.04 -18:36.3   9.9   19:10.10 -18:17.6   9.7
C/2008 A1 (McNaught)        21:43.68 +58:15.5  13.4   21:55.25 +60:12.1  13.5
C/2006 W3 (Christensen)     22:42.89 +34:01.8  13.2   22:44.99 +33:58.2  13.1  Very tough morning

C/2007 G1 (LINEAR)          02:44.33 -64:46.5  12.7   03:01.69 -62:49.4  12.8

Note that occasionally comets become bright shortly (like Hyakutake in 1996, Ikeya-Zhang and Utsunomiya in 2002), so check back for possible updates shortly before Marathon date.

Also, meteors from various showers may occur, and depending on your location, you may be able to observe the International Space Station, ISS.

Supernova ! A rare event just in time for the Messier marathon occurs this year, as a supernova flashed up in a Messier galaxy: Supernova 2008in in the galaxy M61. Found at mag 14.9 in December 2008 and having passed a maximum of about 14.3 mag, it was at mag 15.5 in mid-February 2009, and could still be just fine for larger amateur telescopes at the time of Messier Marathon in late March.

• The 2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon is scheduled for March 28/29, 2009. This event is sponsored again by the Saguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 17th time), and will be held again at the site south of Arizona City. - A.J. Crayon & Jack Jones
  Also see SAC's 2009 All Messier Marathon announce.
• Professor Sorin Hotea through his website AstroInfo, organizes once again in 2009 a new national Messier marathon in Romania. Any Romanian amateur astronomer can join this call and subscribe to AstroInfo website to participate to Messier Marathon 2009 in Romania. The main weekend when Romanian astronomers are called for marathon is March 28-29. Let's hope the skies will be clear!
• The Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS), India, are planning to conduct the Messier Marathon for their astronomical society, on 28th March. They represent the astronomers from the city of Bangalore, Karnataka, South India (+13deg latitude) and participating for the second time. Some newcomers with experienced observers will be attempting with binoculars and telescopes of varying sizes. The location is our regular observing site - Hosahalli, 70 km North of city. For more info see their Group Messier Marathon - 2009 webpage. - Amar A. Sharma, MM-2009 Coordinator
• The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA) are making their trek up for the Messier Marathon 2009 on Mount Tamalpias to engender those faint fuzzies of the night sky. The event is envisaged for the night of Saturday/Sunday March 28/29, 2009. Notably, as already a tradition on their Messier events, French astronomer Charles Messier, shall make a surprise appearance to initiate the Marathon (actually represented by Kenneth Frank). - Kenneth Frank, Night Sky Network Administrator
• The All Gujarat Astronomers Association, are organising a Grand Messier Marathon on March 27/28, 2009 at Madhavpur (Ghed) 021:15 N 069:57 E in Gujarat India, where they are inviting all amateurs astronomers from Gujarat State with their instruments. This will be the first grand Messier Marathon in the history of Gujarat. They are expecting about 10+ Telescopes and 50+ Binoculars with 100+ Amateurs Astronomers. - Narendra Gor, Kutch Amateur Astronomers Club
• SPACE (Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators), India is organising a Messier Marathon on the night of March 28th/29th from the pristine and dark skies of Sariska National Park (27.39 N, 76.46 E and Alt of 485 mts). The event is open to all interested people and SPACE will provide for telescopes, star maps and finder charts for the participants. There will be many seasoned amateur astronomers to guide the beginners. Transport from New Delhi to the observing location and back is provided as well as accomodation at the Tiger Den Tourist Resort for the two days. Interested persons can contact Ms Pooja Chaudhary, MM09 Coordinator- pooja (at) space-india.org . - Nikhil Pawar
• Astronomica, the amateur wing of SPACE (Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators) will be conducting its first Messier Marathon, from the dark skies of Jewar, Haryana, India (about 60 KM SE of New Delhi) (28.10 N, 77.54 E) on Saturday, 28th March 2009. Our arsenal will of equipment includes India's largest amateur telescope (20" Aperture Telescope). Astronomicans have been conducting practise sessions under in the sky theater at the Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi to learns the sequence, star hopping routes, tips and techniques of the Messier Marathon. - Vikrant Narang
• Professor Gerardo Rizo through his website of the Sociedad Astronómica Guadalajara, A.C., organizes again in 2009 a Messier Marathon in predio "la Loma", Atemajac de Brizuela, Jalisco, Mexico. Any amateur astronomer can join this call and subscribe to website to participate to Messier Marathon 2009, on March 28-29.
• The Amateur Astronomers Association of Vadodara in association with Gujarat Nature Conservation Society organized a Messier Marathon 2009 on 28th March 2009 at Village Vasant Pura, Taluka Rajpipla dist, Narmada, Gujarat. The place is 80 km from Vadodara City and having good dark and clear sky. 18 Observers Will participate in marathon with 5 telescope, 10 binocular and 1 spoting scope. - Bhargav Joshi
• The Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers will once again hold their Messier, planet and comet Marathon at Chuckwalla Bench March 28-29. It's a great spot with awesome horizons: See 2006 MM report. The last 2 miles are a washboard dirt road not suitable for trucks and RVs, which are guaranteed to get stuck in the soft sand, if not on the road, then certainly at the pulloff areas. They set up 2 miles from the 1-10 freeway, and there is room for perhaps half a dozen cars (aka not many) at their location, but nearby open spots aloang the road. In addition to the Messiers Jane will be observing and sketching the "Galileo" objects using a 70mm Televue Ranger at 19x, a similar magnification but a larger aperture telescope than Galileo used. The Galileo's are objects Galileo observed and sketched 400 years ago. - Jane Houston Jones and Morris Jones ( sidewalk at otastro.org )

If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, 2009 or earlier, if not already done so, please send me your or your group's results, or the link to your results page, for inclusion in our Messier Marathon Results page!

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
[contact]

Last Modification: April 1, 2009