Contributed by:
  Russell F. Pinizzotto
  Tuesday, 17 April 2001


Messier Marathon 2001
R.F. Pinizzotto
Maryville, MO

Since moving from Dallas, Texas to Maryville, Missouri last year, I'd
planned on doing a Messier Marathon without having to travel hundreds of
miles to a dark sky site.  Maryville has a population of about 10,000 and
has lots of lights causing significant skyglow that can be seen from 15
miles away.  However, once you're about 5 miles outside of town, and not
looking directly over it, it's really dark, at least using Dallas as a point
of reference.  When you get out of your car on a good night in Maryville,
the Milky Way just jumps out at you, even before your eyes are dark-adapted.
The bad thing is that the Missouri skies often have a haze in them, whereas
the stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas.

I picked out two observing spots, one on the west side of town for the early
evening objects, and one on the east side of town for the early morning
objects.  The first, western site is located on Galaxy Road, and has turned
into my favorite observing spot.  The horizon is completely clear and I've
been able to watch Jupiter set from there.  The eastern site is at Mozingo
Lake on the other side of town and is not as good.  There are always lights
from the park, the road or the surrounding houses that seem to be in the
way.  However, it is possible to get a good view to the east without looking
over the town, and I needed that to even have a chance at M30.  I live in
between the two sites, so I could take my midnight break at home on the way
from one to the other.  This seemed like the ideal plan.

I had already accomplished a successful Messier Marathon two years ago using
my 6-inch Criterion Dynascope, so to be different, I decided to do this one
using my 20 x 80 Celestron binoculars mounted on a Virgo mount.  I didn't
even bring the telescope because I really wanted to complete a binocular
Messier Marathon and knew the scope would be too much of a temptation.

I went out to Galaxy Road on Saturday, 24 March, arriving at about 6:45 pm.
I set up the mount and binoculars, and got out the books, log and AstroCards
with the holder.  It was clear and COLD and I wasn't even started yet.
There were a few high cirrus clouds, but those often quickly disappear in
the early evening.  I was hoping that this night would be the same.
Contrails were visible, and I knew that they could be a problem if they
continued.  After all, this is called the "Flyover Zone" of the US for a
reason.  It was a bit windy, maybe 5 to 10 mph, enough to move the
binoculars and mount if they were broadside to the wind.  I don't even want
to think about the wind chill factor that I endured later in the evening.

Venus was a naked eye object at 6:56; Jupiter and Saturn were naked eye
objects logged at 6:58.  As part of the challenge, I also wanted to log all
of the planets visible in the big binoculars, too.  

The first Messier object logged was M42 at 7:16.  Even at this early hour
there was an obvious haze around the stars and its manta ray shape was
clearly visible.  With binoculars it's really easy to jump around the sky,
so M41 was next at 7:22.  It was unspectacular with the still bright
background and looked like a handful of stars spilled in one spot in the
sky.  I checked it again at 7:27 and it was more like the great open cluster
that one expects.  M45 was next at 7:33 with all the bright stars and about
40 others clearly visible.  I found the location of M77 at 7:41, but
couldn't find the galaxy, even using averted vision and shaking the
binoculars.  Oh, well.  I still had time for it.  M31 appeared at 7:46, but
M32 and M110 weren't visible yet.  M74 might have been visible at 7:40, and
was definitely visible at 7:59 when I logged it as my fifth object.  M77
still couldn't be seen.  M32 and M110 became visible around 8:15, and then .
. .M77?  Hard to say.  I wasn't sure enough to actually log it.  M52 in
Cassiopeia logged (8:24) and then . . . M77?  Absolutely no way.  The four
stars that identify it's position including eta Piscium were actually fading
away now as they dropped onto the horizon, and I knew that completing the
Marathon with all 110 was not going to happen.  This was a bit
disappointing, but a score of 109 was still possible, and that didn't sound
too bad.

I stopped hopping around the sky and started following my list with M103 at
8:27.  The Messier objects that were particularly noteworthy on this night
were M78 (8:49), which is always a lot brighter in the binoculars than I
expect, and M37 (8:58), which is one of my favorites.  It's almost like a
giant globular in the big binocs.  M50 (9:18) looks like a mixture of bright
and dim stars.  M44 (9:25), the Beehive, is a naked eye object and warrants
a "Great!" on the log sheet.  The galaxies in Leo were just out of the
Maryville haze, but even NGC3628 could be seen in the same field as M65 and
M66 (9:36).  I logged M109 at 9:47.  This was a satisfying event since it
had taken me many tries to find it when I was working on my binocular
Messier certificate for the Astronomical League.  M40 (9:50), that a lot of
people complain about, usually looked like a slightly elongated streak, but
was resolved during times of good seeing.  If Messier saw the streak like I
did, and remember he was cataloguing things that could be confused with
comets, I understand why he would have included it in his list.  In fact,
the small streak might even be more confusing to someone trying to identify
comets in those days than some of the other objects because it could be
confused with a comet just starting to develop its tail!  It's always
surprising to me that both parts of M51 are visible in binoculars (10:03).
M3 (10:39) was a nice, bright, big globular to see before jumping into the
Virgo cluster.  It took me until 11:41 to get through the small, crazy
hazies, making sure that I positively identified each one using the star
fields around them before entering them in my log.  The sky was a bit hazy
at times, so the seeing was not always as good as it could be.  The
Virgo/Coma cluster was harder than it had been just a week before.  I
finished with M5 (12:02), a nice big, bright globular before taking a break
to go home, drink some tea, and change locations.

This was turning out to be a very cold night!  The temperature dropped into
the mid-20s (F).  Even with multiple layers of clothing, I could only stay
out for about 50 minutes before getting back into the car and turning on the
engine and heater to warm up a bit.  My fingers were particularly cold
because all of the logging, page turning, changing AstroCards in the holder,
and using the flashlight necessitated my taking off my gloves each time.
This is something that really makes you wonder if you'll go back out and do
the second half of the marathon once you get inside and really warm up.
While I was at home, I found some toe warmers.  These are little chemical
heater pouches you put in your shoes under your toes that help keep them
warm.  It turns out that they actually work great!  These were definitely a
good Christmas present.

I drove to Mozingo Lake on the east side of town and was set up by 2:30.
M13 (2:33) was first and was as spectacular as always.  I really like
globular clusters, so this part of the Marathon is a lot of fun.  When Mars
was visible at 3:00, it was easy to see how the names Ares and Antares came
to be.  M7 (3:13) is a beautiful open cluster in binoculars.  M27 (3:38),
the Dumbbell Nebula, and M11 (4:12), the Wild Duck Cluster, both warranted
"Great!" comments in the log sheet.  M22 (3:42), the great Sagittarius
globular, received a "Fantastic!" and M8 (4:11), the Lagoon Nebula was
"Remarkable."  I logged M69 at 4:18 for object number 100, followed by M54
at 4:20 for 101.

And, unfortunately, here the story ends . . . Very low and thick clouds
rolled in from the west and completely covered the sky.  Under these
conditions, Maryville lights up the entire area enough to think it's
daytime.  As the clouds approached, I tried to find M70, but it was not to
be.  As Kaga-san of Iron Chefs fame would say, "This battle is over!"

All in all, though, this was a successful Binocular Messier Marathon.  It
was great to find out that others tried the same thing and that Brent
Archinal succeeded in finding all 110 with his 11 x 80s at the 2001 All
Arizona Messier Marathon.  From the Messier Marathon Eternal Hall of Fame
list, it seems that west Texas and Arizona are the places to be if you want
to find all 110 in one night.  Since this is baseball season, it seems
appropriate to end this article by saying, "Wait until next year!"