Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 16:07:32 -0600 
From: Pinizzotto, Russell
Subject: Messier Marathon Results

Hartmut:

I ran a Messier Marathon last night, 01/02 April 2003.  I was at Bearcat
Observatory, a new facility built for Northwest Missouri State University.
It's located in Maryville, MO at 40.381 N and 94.886 W, at an altitude of
350 m ASL.  

I mainly used my Celestron 20 x 80 binoculars on a Virgo mount, augmented by
7 x 50 binoculars and my Criterion RV-6.  I used Meade Series 4000 Super
Plossl eyepieces of 40 and 26 mm focal length.  I used AstroCards for star
charts and a slightly modifed search sequence of my own.

The evening started out with scattered high cirrus clouds, but it cleared up
beautifully.  It was even warm for this time of year, starting out at 78F
and only dropping down to the high 40s!

I observed 107 Messier objects, missing M74 and M77 at the start because of
clouds and their low altitude, and M30 at the end, of course!

Congratulations to Don Machholz!  108 from memory without charts or lists.
That's an impressive performance and something to shoot for.

Clear Skies,
Russ Pinizzotto