2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results

Site: Arizona City, Arizona

Date: March 25/26, 2006

Num	Name	Scope	Organizitation	Missed or Comments
108	Larry Brown	LX-200	TAAA	M74 M110
108	Keith Schlottman	LX-200	TAAA/SAC	M74 M110
107	D Turner & G Golden	LX-200	MO	M74 M110 M33
107	Jimmy Ray	8" SCT	SAC	M74 M110 M33
107	Rick Tejera	ETX 60 f5.8	SAC	M74 M110 M33
106	Deborah Cooper	Nexstar 11	TAAA	M74 M110 M33 M32
106	Randy Peterson	10" SCT	EVAC	M74 M110 M31 M32
106	Russell Peterson	10" SCT	EVAC	M74 M110 M31 M32
106	Chuck Shields	8" LX200	EVAC	M74 M110 M33 M32
105	Bob Christ	9.25" SCT	SAC	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33
105	Gilbert A. Esquerdo	6" f3.6	PSI	M110 M31 M32 M33 M73
105	Tim Jones	9.25" SCT	SAC	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33
105	Tom Polakis	70mm Pronto	SAC	M74 M110 M31 M32 M30
105	Dick Tobiason	Nexstar 8	OR	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33
104	Andrew Cooper	6"f5 Newt	TAAA	M74 M110 M32 M33 M75 M72
104	Ken Shaver	16"DOB	TAAA	M74 M110 M32 M33 M75 M72
103	John Moeschinger	8" Newt	AZ	M74 M110 M32 M31 M33 M72 M30
103	Carter-Thaxton Smith	10" DOB	TAAA	M74 M110 M32 M33 M75 M72 M73
102	John Holmquist	8" SCT	EVAC	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33 M76 M34 M40
102	Don Machholz	6"f8 Criterion	Clf	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33 M72 M73 M30
101	Butch Miller	LX-90	EVAC	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33 M77 M79 M72 M30
100	Kevin Jones	8" SCT	TAAA	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33 M77 M55 M72 M73 M30
100	Jeremy Perez	6" Newt	CAS	M74 M110 M31 M32 M33 M76 M75 M72 M73 M30
100	George Robinson	10"F4.7 DOB	AL	M74 M110 M31 M32 M75 M15 M2 M72 M73 M30
99	Dan Gruber	12" DOB	AZ
97	David & Katie Kroeppler	80mm ref	AL
95	Brian Jackson	Nexstar 8	CA
93	James & Delia Brix	16" DOB	AZ
93	Marie Bruhns	11" SCT	NAU
93	Rick Rotramel	10"f5.8 Newt	SAC
88	David Trogan	LX-200	EVAC
85	Bill Loftquist	12.5"DOB	TAAA
84	Melvin Harrison	10" DOB	EVAC
82	Thomas Watson	8" Newt	TAAA
75	Scott & Heather Saari	8" DOB	SAC
74	Steve & Rosei Dodder	C8 SCT	SAC/TAAA
74	Randall Stark	LX-90	EVAC
72	Michael Douglas	10" DOB	AZ
71	Brent Archinel	6" f10 ref	CAS
70	Tony Velasques	8" SCT	AZ
68	Joan McGue	8" DOB	SAC
66	Stewart Cramer	Nexstar 11	SAC
63	Brian Davis	10" DOB	EVAC
63	Audrey Evelan	11" Meade	NAU
60	Anne Marie Cooper	LX-200	EVAC
59	David Hardinger	LX-200	EVAC
53	Wayne Thomas	14X70 binos	EVAC/SAC
51	Greg & Mandy Kettell	8" Newt	AZ
50	Jack Jones	20"f5	SAC
40	Robert Gilroy	10"f5	TAAA
36	Gale Cumberledge	8" Newt	SAC
36	Vito Pontarelli	120mm ref	SAC
29	Kyle Sikes	8" f6 Newt	EVAC
19	Stephen Perry	8" SCT	SAC

No formal organizational ties:
AL Astronomical League
AZ Arizona
CA Santa Monica, California
CAS Coconino Astronomical Society, Flagstaff, AZ
MO Weatherby Lake, Missouri
NAU Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
OR Cental Oregon Astronomical Association, Bead, OR
PSI Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ

View the results from:

2005

2004

2003

See the following site http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/marathon/results.html for more information about this, other marathon events and Charles Messier.

A few comments from,
some of our attending members!

Well;
Even though we missed AJ, we managed to have fun without him.

I counted 107 vehicles in twilight on Saturday evening, we had 25 on Friday!

So, plenty of folks showed up to take in the activities, I understand someone managed 108 objects between the cloud banks, I know Rick Tejera did 107. I know that Jack Jones will have the official count at the club meeting.

I took some astro-images with the help of Al Steiwig, thanks again Al. I will see how those turned out in daylight. We hooked up Al's Canon camera to my old Pentax thread lenses and got some decent results.

I had a chance to walk around and chat with lots of folks, as usual a fun bunch of people.

Including Don Machholz, one of the first Messier Marathoners.

Clear skies to us all;
Steve Coe

The night turned out to be about 75% cloudy, but that didn't stop quite a few of us from running the marathon. Somebody counted 110 or so vehicles, which isn't bad for such an obviously murky night. I heard a couple reports of 107, but no perfect scores yet. I would not be dubious, though, as somebody could have looked at M74 or M30 at the right instant as it passed between clouds.

Here's my personal account. I saw 105 Messier objects last night. It was one my the most challenging nights of observing.

I failed to see M74, but it was in the clear for a few minutes when it was dark enough, so maybe a larger aperture than 70mm would have pulled it in. In the early evening, it was apparent that the north was going to go away fast, so I worked on sweeping up all of the object of high declination through Ursa Major before even going after Orion through Puppis, where it was very clear. M33 was extremely difficult and fleeting, and I bet a lot of folks missed it. I wonder if anybody got M31 and its two companions. I had to wait until morning, when I failed to see it again.

I did all of my viewing at 18x in the Pronto, so some objects like M76 took real effort to detect. And some galaxies between clouds were tougher than I was expecting. All of the open clusters in Messiers catalogue were beautimous in the little refractor.

At 10:20, it had cleared completely, and stayed good for a couple hours, when I was able to cruise through the galaxies in Virgo and Coma. At 11:00, I had 61 objects, and napped through 3:00, when I was greeted by more mostly cloudy. I took on the last dozen objects in a strange order, dictated entirely by local clearings. I managed to see M73 but not M72, doing the same for M55, while missing M75. I was able to get M72 and M75 just before twilight, and just barely.

I could believe that M30 also became visible at some point, but I was messing with M72 at the time and didn't get to it. So I wound up with 105, missing M74, M31, M32, M110, and M30. Glad I made the trip, as it was an enjoyable night.

I hope some other observers had a chance to point the scope at the rising crescent moon, which looked great when the bands of clouds were passing in front of it.

Tom

It was truly one of the more challenging marathons I've done. To start things off on the wrong foot, my Telrad on Gert (the 8") broke, one of the collimation screws broke off. Not sure how or when but that was quite a rude surprise. It took me quite a while trying to find two decent alignment stars while the cloud are creeping in on M74 & co. I thought I had finally gotten a decent alignment on the Sky Commander but Nooooo. I punched up M42 just to check the alignment and it was pointing me about 25 degrees off, somewhere in Eridanus. Tried again, same result. Much silent cursing ensued. Finally just shut the whole thing down and aligned the Meade ETX 60, which I used exclusively for the rest of the night. Like Tom, 60mm was probably just not enough aperture to pull in M74. M77 was tough, but it was there. The Andromeda trio & M33 were well behind clouds at this point. Cassiopeia was partially visible and I got M 52, but missed M 103. I later learned many folks had just the opposite problem. I also finished off the high Dec objects as that was were the cloud cover was heading. Next up was the southern winter objects. I was able pick off everything through Leo by 2100. By now the sky looked like the roof was closing at BOB (Sorry, just can't call it Chase Field yet). I took the opportunity to sit and chat with Steve Coe, Dave Fredericksen & several other folks while we waited for better conditions. An hour & a 1/2 later it looked like we would get a break as things were breaking up. And there were again stars in the sky. I then finished up the Virgo cluster & a few other eastern objects that had risen in to Hercules. By 2300 it was nap time. Got up at 0130, changed batteries in Polly (the ETX), realigned and got back to it. Easy pickens through Scorpius with the teapot of Sagittarius just rising. Now it was wait for stuff to rise. This is were it got interesting. As tom Mentioned previously you had to adapt your routine to the whims of the weather. More than once I went to an object when the sky was clear there only to have it cloud up by the time my eye made it to the eyepiece. Picked off a few objects as they rose. Saw M6 with the hills in the eyepiece. Grabbed M 103 on the upswing through a sucker hole. I got M73, and quickly slewed up to M72. Caught sight of it just before it disappeared into the clouds for good. Just plain dumb luck. When the Andromeda trio rose high enough, I was able to see M 31 & M32, but M110 would elude me as we r were now in increasing twilight. I did stop and look at the rising moon through the streaks of cloud on the way to M30, which was rather difficult. I finally called it after several taps on the eyepiece showed the same slight brightening at the same spot with averted vision three times.

My final tally was 107, missing M74, M110 & M33, which would not rise in the am until after Sunrise.

Although 110 still eludes me, It was definitely a fun marathon. The challenge of seeing 107 in 60mm was definitely satisfying. But I think the best part was the large turnout of folks looking for a good time under the sky. I spoke with many folks as they were turning in the sheets to Jack and they all thanked Sac for a great event. Glad we could oblige, I just wish AJ was there to enjoy it as well. It just wasn't the same without him. I hope I did a credible job subbing for the pre-event briefing:)

Rick Tejera