Date: January 25, 2017
From: Mike Rowles
Subject: Memory Messier Marathon Results

Hi Hartmut,
My name is Mike Rowles.  I am a member of the Delmarva Stargazers.  
I attempted a Memory Messier Marathon on March 6, 2016.  I was able to 
locate and observe - entirely from memory! - 101 Messier objects at 39 
degrees N latitude.
 
Here is my report:

On March 6, 2016, I took my 10" Dob to a dark yellow zone site on the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland to attempt a Memory Messier Marathon.  
I located and observed each object from memory. I didn't look at any 
star charts or cheat sheets - printed or electronic - all night. 
The only reference I had was a simple printout showing the Messier 
numbers in numerical order - not Marathon order - each with a box to 
note in the time each object was seen.

Haze and clouds in the west made it impossible to bag the usual early 
evening objects. M77, M74 and the other galaxies, as well as M76, were 
out of the question. So I had to try the easier Messiers, and wait for 
sucker holes to open up for the missing ones. I went for M34, which is 
fairly easy to find and fairly bright. At 6:15, it was my first Messier 
of the MMM. Next I grabbed some of the Early Easy Eight: M42, M43 in 
Orion and M45.

Though the west and northwest were still pretty overcast, I could make 
out the bright stars in Cassiopeia. My next bag was M103. I tried M52, 
but the sky was still too hazy. IME, since M52 is a rather large open 
cluster which blends somewhat into the background stars, it can be a 
very difficult object to identify if Cas is fairly low and there are 
thin clouds and haze. For me, small and compact M103 is always easier 
to see than M52 under light pollution or a hazy sky. I'd have to wait 
until the sky cleared more to catch M52.

As the western sky cleared somewhat, I was able to catch all the 
evening Messiers I had missed except for M74. Even though I was 
looking at the exact location of M74, I could not tease it out from 
the bright and hazy background.

I only used two eyepieces for the Marathon: a Baader 8-24 Zoom, and a 
31 T5 Nagler (the Terminator). The Baader Zoom was in the focuser 
most of the time. The 31 T5 was switched in when I needed to galaxy 
hop through the Virgo/Coma Cluster.

I took an hour break about 2 AM, soon after completing the Virgo/Coma 
galaxies and a few of the summer objects.

For most of the night, I pretty much followed my Messier Marathon 
sequence, which I had also memorized. I only changed the sequence 
when I could not see objects due to clouds and haze, while others 
further on in the sequence were already visible. I went back to find 
the missing objects later.

The last Messier object I was able to see was M54, the lower left 
glob at the bottom of the Tea Pot in Sagittarius. I could see both 
M54 and M69, but not M70. By that time, at 5:24 AM, the eastern sky 
was already very bright. The overpowering brightness of the sky, 
along with haze and clouds, prevented me from bagging any more of 
the Messiers.

So my total for this MMM was 101 objects located from memory and 
observed. I did not see M74 in the evening. The morning objects I 
missed were M70, M55, M75, M15, M2, M72, M73, M30. I'm sure if the 
sky had been clear all night, I would have bagged more of these 
stragglers. Of course, a lower latitude and lower horizons in the 
east and west would have helped as well.

Mike Rowles