Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 18:05:49 +0100
From: Paul Clark
To: spider
Subject: Messier Marathon 2001

As part of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society's (Manchester,
UK) first attempt at the Marathon, commencing Sunday 18th March.  I
succeeded in observing 101 objects (including M102) from a latitude of 53
degrees 27 minutes North.  This appears to be the maximum number listed as
available from this latitude by software downloaded from the COAA website in
Portugal.  The night was an exceptionally rare one for the north west of
England, clear down to the horizon all night.  The objects that were
unavailable were M7, 30, 54, 55, 69, 70, 72, 73 and 75.  I used an Orion OMC
140 Mak-Cass equipped with TelRad and 7x50 finder.  Pennington's guide and
maps from SkyMap Pro 7 were also found to be very useful.  My observations
cannot be independently verified owing to the other interested members of
the Society either attending the opera or falling asleep!  A report can be
found
at http://www.adas.u-net.com/PCMM.html

Regards
Paul Clark