Please submit any scheduled Messier Marathon 2012 Events!
Messier Marathoners: Send me your results! (2012 or earlier)

We have a bright supernova for this year's marathon: SN 2012aw in M95!

Messier Marathon 2012

In the year 2012, New Moon will occur on March 22, and thus provide a good primary opportunity for a Messier Marathon on the weekend of March 24/25, and a secondary option the weekend before, on March 17/18, 2012. This will provide a considerably good chance from appropriate loactions to hunt down all 110 Messier Objects in one night.

As it is always delightful to add to the Messier Marathon the observation of as many of the planets as possible, with Uranus, Neptune, and Mercury impossible this year.

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, Seiichi Yoshida's Visual Comet lists for the northern and southern hemisphere, and the Fachgruppe Kometen list):

Comet                       RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag     RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag
                                March 18, 2012             March 25, 2012

C/2012 C2 Bruenjes          00:55:43 +14:40.8  12      00:49:22 +14:02.1  12    Early evening setter
21P/Giacobini-Zinner        01:36:20 -00:25.6  11.3    02:04:15 +00:12.0  11.6 
78P/Gehrels                 03:06:12 +14:07.6  13.9    03:21:43 +15:02.2  14.0
255P/2006 T1 Levy           07:46:56 -24:26.0  10.3    08:09:40 -23:33.9  10.8
C/2009 P1 Garradd           11:22:23 +68:45.0   7.5    10:13:24 +63:49.7   7.7
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1  12:26:55 -13:01.5  15.6    12:23:51 -12:47.4  15.6  Outbursts! c. 13m
C/2011 F1 LINEAR            15:42:43 +53:14.2  13.6    15:40:21 +54:12.4  13.5
(596) Sheila                16:50:11 -15:57.6  13.5    16:54:54 -16:23.6  13.4
C/2006 S3 LONEOS            18:08:57 -13:50.6  12.7    18:05:42 -13:44.9  12.6

C/2011 Q2 McNaught          23:30:37 +21:29.2  14.0    23:51:40 +24:21.8  14.2

C/2009 F4 McNaught          02:39:10 -66:43.5  14.2    02:49:54 -64:55.4  14.2

For the record: Southerners with large instruments may still try to spot now-faint (mag 20.7) old friend C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp at RA 01:04:30, Dec -83:52.4!

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 occasionally, a supernova of brightness available to amateur telesopes may have flashed up be spottable in time (like SN 1998S in NGC 3877, SN 2002ap in M74, SN 2006X in M100 in their years of appearance).
This year 2012, just in time for the main Messier Marathon date, bright supernova SN 2012aw occurred in M95! Discovered on March 16, 2012, it was found at about mag 13.1 on March 19 and rapidly rising. What a great extra for this year's Messier Marathon!
In addition, we have comet C/2009 P1 Garradd at about mag 7.5, and observers with larger telescopes may be able to spot the fading SN 2011fe in M101, which had occurred on August 24, 2011 and brightened to 10th magnitude in September 2011; it has now faded to 14.8 mag (late February 2012) and may be around 15th magnitude at marathon dates.

This year, of the "first" four minor planets, only (3) Juno will be reasonably observable, while (1) Ceres, (2) Pallas, and (4) Vesta will be so close to the Sun (at less than 25 degrees elongation) that observing will be extremely difficult and more probably impossible. For those who want to try these objects, data for the two weekends in question are as follows:

Planet       RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag    RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag
                 March 18, 2012            March 25, 2012

(1) Ceres    01:26:19 +02:11.5  9.1    01:36:13 +03;22.2  9.1
(2) Pallas   22:37:56 +00:51.0 10.3    22:46:52 +01:20.9 10.3
(3) Juno     16:28:47 -08:22.1 10.9    16:29:40 -07:49.0 10.8
(4) Vesta    00:43:40 -00:52.3  8.2    00:55:34 +00:25.1  8.1

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

Messier Marathon Events 2012

Again, we plan to announce all scheduled 2012 Messier Marathon Events here.

The 2012 All Arizona Messier Marathon is scheduled for March 24/25, 2012. This event is sponsored again by the Saguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 20th time). It will be held at the same site as last year, the Hovatter Airstrip, an abandoned airport. - A.J. Crayon & Rick Tejera
Also see SAC's 2012 All Messier Marathon announce.
Notice on weather forecast (March 23): FRIDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 47 TO 57. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. .SATURDAY...PARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS 81 TO 86. SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. .SATURDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 46 TO 56. SOUTH WIND AROUND 15 MPH IN THE EVENING DECREASING TO 5 TO 10 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
The group "Wanderlust" & "Nayka Nature Lovers Club" are organizing a Messier Marathon at a dark patch of Matheran (hill station) near Mumbai, India. The event is scheduled to occur on March 17, 2012, Saturday night. The group will join around the instruments of Dr. Ajay Pradhan (6-inch Dobson) and Dr. Ashish Nanabhai (80mm reflector). - Dr. Ajay Pradhan from Mumbai (India), http://www.drajaypradhan.com/
After having their first results in from the March 17, 2012 event, the group "Wanderlust" & "Nayka Nature Lovers Club" are holding a second event this year, on March 24, 2012 at the same place, a dark patch of Matheran (hill station) near Mumbai, India. - Dr. Ajay Pradhan from Mumbai (India), http://www.drajaypradhan.com/

Please submit any scheduled events for announce here.

If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, 2012 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!

Note A.J. Crayon's Analysis of Messier Marathons

Messier Marathon Home < 2013 | 2011 >

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: March 23, 2012