Messier Marathon Observer's Results

Here we plan to list all reported Messier Marathon Observer's Results. Please notify me if you'd like to have your results/score/report/link to be added !

Historical Messier Marathon Results

(widely based on Don Machholz's report in his Messier Marathon Observer's Guide, and private communications with Tom Hoffelder, A.J. Crayon, Don Machholz, Phil Harrington, and many others)

In 1976, Tom Hoffelder and Tom Reiland of Pittsburgh, PA, noticed that it would be possible to observe most, if not all Messier objects in one night around the first day of spring (March 21) each year. They decided to try it in 1977. That year, both of them did (though Tom Hoffelder had moved to Akron, OH), and also Ed Flynn of Pittsburgh did a marathon (which was probably the first ever). Tom Hoffelder notified Walter Scott Houston of Sky & Telescope who published the story in March 1979 (when Tom had already moved again to Florida). Don Machholz states to have realized the possibility even in the late 1960s, but did not begin further investigation until 1978. Eventually, Gerry Rattley was the first marathoner to log all 110 Messier objects in the night of March 23/24, 1985 from Dugas, Arizona.

1990 Messier Marathon Results

1991 Messier Marathon Results

1992 Messier Marathon Results

1993 Messier Marathon Results

1994 Messier Marathon Results

1995 Messier Marathon Results

1996 Messier Marathon Results

..with Great Comet of 1996, Hyakutake..

1997 Messier Marathon Results

..with Great Comet of 1997, Hale-Bopp, and Mars near its best..

1998 Messier Marathon Results

.. with Supernova 1998S in NGC 3877 .. unusually many observers weathered out ..
We continue to hold our Messier Marathon 1998 page for the record.

1999 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our Messier Marathon 1999 page for the record.

2000 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2000 Messier Marathon page for the record.

2001 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2001 Messier Marathon page for the record.

The first Messier Marathon of the new millennium, 2001 turned out to be a truely record breaking event!

2002 Messier Marathon Results

.. with comets C/2002 C1 Ikeya-Zhang, C/2000 WM1 LINEAR, C/2002 F1 Utsunomiya, and supernova 2002ap in M74 ..
We continue to hold our Messier Marathon 2002 page for the record.

2003 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2003 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2004 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2004 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2005 Messier Marathon Results

.. with Comet C/2004 Q2 Machholz ..
We continue to hold our 2005 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2006 Messier Marathon Results

.. with supernova 2006X in M100 and comets C/2006A1 Pojmanski and fragments of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann ..
We continue to hold our 2006 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2007 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2007 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2008 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2008 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2009 Messier Marathon Results

.. with Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin and Supernova 2008in ..
We continue to hold our 2009 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2010 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2010 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2011 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2011 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2012 Messier Marathon Results

.. with Supernova 2012aw in M95 and Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd ..
We continue to hold our 2012 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2013 Messier Marathon Results

.. with Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS ..
We continue to hold our 2013 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2014 Messier Marathon Results

.. with Supernova 2014J in M82 and Supernova 2014L in M99 ..
We continue to hold our 2014 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2015 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2015 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2016 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2016 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2017 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2017 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2018 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2018 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

2019 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2019 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

Again we plan to include all reported 2019 Messier Marathon results here.

2020 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2020 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

Again we plan to include all reported 2020 Messier Marathon results here.

Note: Regretfully, many scheduled events for the 2020 Messier Marathon have been cancelled due to the events concerning the COVID-19 outbreak.

2021 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2021 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

Again we plan to include all reported 2021 Messier Marathon results here.

Note: With regret, many envisiged events for the 2021 Messier Marathon have not been scheduled or have been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

2022 Messier Marathon Results

We continue to hold our 2022 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

Again we plan to include all reported 2022 Messier Marathon results here.

2023 Messier Marathon Results

We plan to continue to hold our 2023 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

Again we plan to include all reported 2023 Messier Marathon results here.

Congratulations to all! Particular congratulations to the four who have achieved 110 this year: Dave Whittle, Victor Trnaka (twice! from memory), Richard Wheeler, and Dominic Michela! Your mention is included in the Hall of Fame..

Please contribute your results for inclusion here!

2024 Messier Marathon

Again, we plan to announce all scheduled 2024 Messier Marathon Events here. Please send me any scheduled events for announce here.

2024 Messier Marathon Results

We plan to continue to hold our 2024 Messier Marathon page for the record ..

Again we plan to include all reported 2024 Messier Marathon results here.

Please contribute your results for inclusion here!


The Messier Marathon community mourns the loss of Don Machholz (October 7, 1952 - August 9, 2022), co-inventor and record-breaking Messier Marathoner. Don Machholz commemorative site


If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, please send me your or your group's results, or the link to your results page ! Also send me past results which are not already in this page !


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Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: March 9, 2024