From: Tom Hoffelder
Subject: Marathon Report

Hello Hartmut!  

This is my report on a 2009 Messier Marathon that was held in Tolland CT 
on the night of March 24th/25th.  The participants were Dick Parker, 
Julian Shull, Charles Wilson and myself.  We also had some friends, 
neighbors and even a wife (mine) visiting us throughout more than half 
the night.  Since all were from this state, maybe we should call it the 
first annual All Connecticut Messier Marathon?
 
Regardless of the marathon name, Dick used his homemade 8 inch f/8 
Newtonian, which was his first scope, built during his summer break between 
high school and college 45 years ago.  A number of improvements have been 
made to the scope, such as an optical window instead of a spider, but the 
mirror has its original figure.  Dick has made many mirrors/telescopes 
since, his most recent being a beautiful 16 inch f/17 classical Cassegrain 
which was a big winner at Stellafane last year.  He has also been 
conducting a winter mirror-making workshop in his basement where 88 mirrors 
have been finished in the last 10 years.  
(http://mirrorworkshop.mtbparker.com/index.html)
 
Julian and Charles used Julian's 10 inch f/5.2 Dobsonian, which Julian made, 
including the mirror in Dick's workshop.  I used my wife's 8" f/6 Newtonian 
(which is not homemade), but for the fun of it I did set up my 16 inch f/6 
Dob, which I did make (yet another mirror finished in Dick's workshop), 
for looking at such things as M42, Comet Lulin, M13, Jupiter's Ghost and 
NGC 5907.  The best may have been the field that easily showed M84 and 86 
and the other seven nearby galaxies in a single view.  Dick and I, having 
equatorially mounted scopes, both used my right angle sweep coordinates 
from nearby stars, while Julian utilized the conventional star hopping 
method of object location.  (No go-to's allowed here!)
 
I have attached some photos showing the scopes and participants.  The 
first includes Dick's and Julian's scopes, with (from left to right) a 
neighbor, Dick, Charles and Julian.  The second shows my scopes, with 
the guys in the background, and I'm on the right in the third shot.  
I have also included a photo of Dick with his 16 inch Cass, because it 
is such an awesome scope!
 
Running a marathon in Connecticut is never an easy thing.  It is usually 
cold and this year was no exception, the temperature being in the low 
20's all night.  You may be able to tell that from the photos, which were 
taken before the marathon started.  (Luckily there was no wind; the night 
before had wind chills of near zero!)  The state being all hills and 
trees and people makes it almost impossible to find a dark sky with good 
horizons.  We chose a site that was better than most in regard to those 
two criteria, but it was very near a river (meaning high humidity) and 
only 400 feet above sea level, both of which definitely limited our 
results.  
 
Now, finally, to those results.  None of us saw M74 or 77 in the evening.  
In the morning, we all missed M2, 30, 55, 72 and 73.  Julian and I also 
did not find 54 or 75, plus Julian did not find 83, 102 or 15, but he 
did see them in other scopes.  Therefore, the final count, for objects 
found, was Dick 103, Tom 101 and Julian 98, which is quite respectable 
considering the conditions, and especially for Julian since this was his 
first Marathon. 
 
Hoping all is well with you, 
 
Tom Hoffelder