Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 01:45:30 -0800 (PST) From: Swapneel Kore and Girish Vaze Subject: 2003 Messier Marathon results! This year we attempted our third Messier marathon from Jawhar, India (19:52 N, 73:21 E, elevation 550 meters). This was conducted from Shirpa Mal, a peak on the outskirts of Jawhar starting on the evening of 9 March 2003. Our original intention was to carry out a practice run for the actual marathon, which we had scheduled for the nights of 28, 29 and 30 March 2003. We realized that the 6-day-old moon was conveniently parked right next to M45, and would not hamper observations. We figured that a little moonlight or twilight could not stop our 13-inch scope. Therefore, despite the moonlight, we managed to bag all 110 objects! This was a first for us. In fact we also managed to get a quick one and a half hour nap during the night. We managed to successfully see all 110 objects due to an exceptionally clear night sky far away from any polluting cities. The sky transparency was such that after moonset, we could detect 6.5 mag stars with the naked eye. The toughest objects were M72, M73 and M30, which came in the early morning just before sunrise. Besides the Messiers, we observed quite a few galaxies in the Markarian Chain in the Virgo cluster and notably Omega Centauri and NGC 5128 in Centaurus. We also observed 4 planets (excluding earth, of course) Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus. When we started off in the evening, we could also observe a couple of sunspot groups on the setting sun. Our report of observation follows. Messier Type Mag Observation Time of Number Observation M42 Diffuse Nebula 4 1 19:20 M43 Diffuse Nebula 9 2 19:20 M45 Open Cluster 1.2 3 19:21 M31 Galaxy 4.3 4 19:32 M110 Galaxy 8.9 5 19:40 M33 Galaxy 6.2 6 19:40 M32 Galaxy 9.1 7 19:42 M52 Open Cluster 6.9 8 20:00 M74 Galaxy 9.8 9 20:08 M77 Galaxy 9.7 10 20:15 M103 Open Cluster 7.4 11 20:17 M76 Planetary Nebula 12.2 12 20:28 M34 Open Cluster 5.2 13 20:35 M79 Globular Cluster 7.7 14 20:40 M1 Supernova Remnant 8.4 15 20:45 M78 Diffuse Nebula 8 16 20:50 M38 Open Cluster 6.4 17 20:55 M37 Open Cluster 5.6 18 20:55 M36 Open Cluster 6 19 20:55 M108 Galaxy 10.6 20 21:30 M97 Planetary Nebula 12 21 21:30 M35 Open Cluster 5.1 22 19:35 M41 Open Cluster 4.5 23 22:23 M93 Open Cluster 6.2 24 22:23 M47 Open Cluster 4.4 25 22:30 M46 Open Cluster 6.1 26 22:30 M50 Open Cluster 5.9 27 22:35 M48 Open Cluster 5.8 28 20:42 M44 Open Cluster 3.1 29 22:42 M67 Open Cluster 6.9 30 22:44 M95 Galaxy 10.6 31 22:55 M96 Galaxy 10.1 32 22:55 M105 Galaxy 10.5 33 22:55 M65 Galaxy 10.1 34 22:57 M66 Galaxy 9.7 35 22:57 M81 Galaxy 7.8 36 23:07 M82 Galaxy 9.2 37 23:07 M109 Galaxy 10.6 38 23:09 M40 Double Star 9 39 23:12 M51 Galaxy 8.9 40 23:18 M94 Galaxy 8.9 41 23:30 M63 Galaxy 9.3 42 23:32 M106 Galaxy 9.1 43 23:38 M101 Galaxy 8.2 44 23:42 M102 Galaxy 10.8 45 23:57 M53 Globular Cluster 7.6 46 0:00 M64 Galaxy 9.3 47 0:05 M3 Globular Cluster 6.2 48 0:11 M98 Galaxy 10.9 49 00:14-00:24 M99 Galaxy 10.4 50 00:14-00:24 M100 Galaxy 10.1 51 00:14-00:24 M85 Galaxy 10 52 00:14-00:24 M84 Galaxy 10.2 53 00:14-00:24 M86 Galaxy 9.9 54 00:14-00:24 M87 Galaxy 9.6 55 00:14-00:24 M89 Galaxy 10.9 56 00:14-00:24 M90 Galaxy 10.2 57 00:14-00:24 M88 Galaxy 10.2 58 00:14-00:24 M91 Galaxy 10.9 59 00:14-00:24 M58 Galaxy 10.4 60 00:14-00:24 M59 Galaxy 10.7 61 00:14-00:24 M60 Galaxy 9.8 62 00:14-00:24 M49 Galaxy 9.3 63 0:28 M61 Galaxy 10.1 64 0:31 M104 Galaxy 9.2 65 0:50 M68 Globular Cluster 7.8 66 1:00 M83 Galaxy 8 67 1:05 M5 Globular Cluster 5.7 68 1:10 M13 Globular Cluster 5.8 69 1:20 M92 Globular Cluster 6.4 70 1:22 M57 Planetary Nebula 9.7 71 3:15 M56 Globular Cluster 8.3 72 3:19 M107 Globular Cluster 7.9 73 3:30 M12 Globular Cluster 6.7 74 3:31 M10 Globular Cluster 6.6 75 3:31 M9 Globular Cluster 7.7 76 3:34 M14 Globular Cluster 7.6 77 3:37 M4 Globular Cluster 5.6 78 3:40 M80 Globular Cluster 7.3 79 3:42 M19 Globular Cluster 6.8 80 3:46 M62 Globular Cluster 6.5 81 3:47 M6 Open Cluster 4 82 3:50 M7 Open Cluster 3 83 3:50 M11 Open Cluster 5.8 84 4:00 M26 Open Cluster 8 85 4:04 M29 Open Cluster 6.6 86 4:05 M39 Open Cluster 4.6 87 4:15 M22 Globular Cluster 5.1 88 4:22 M24 Milky Way Patch 4 89 4:21 M8 Diffuse Nebula 5 90 4:22 M21 Open Cluster 5.9 91 4:23 M20 Diffuse Nebula 6.3 92 4:23 M17 Diffuse Nebula 6 93 4:27 M18 Open Cluster 6.9 94 4:27 M16 Open Cluster 6 95 4:29 M25 Milky Way Patch 4.6 96 4:31 M23 Open Cluster 5.5 97 4:31 M28 Globular Cluster 6.8 98 4:32 M54 Globular Cluster 7.6 99 4:35 M69 Globular Cluster 7.6 100 4:40 M70 Globular Cluster 7.9 101 4:42 M55 Globular Cluster 6.3 102 4:56 M75 Globular Cluster 8.5 103 5:00 M71 Globular Cluster 8.2 104 5:08 M27 Planetary Nebula 7.6 105 5:09 M15 Globular Cluster 6.2 106 5:39 M2 Globular Cluster 6.5 107 5:41 M72 Globular Cluster 9.3 108 5:53 M73 Open Cluster 8.9 109 5:53 M30 Globular Cluster 7.2 110 6:05