From: AJ Crayon
Subject:  2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon


                       2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon

This years marathon was as successful as any in the past.  I estimated there 
were about 50 vehicles and 75 folks at the site.  At last count 38 had turned 
in their lists for awards.

From the final tally note there were more first place members than in years 
past.  Total of 17 first, five second and three third place finishers.  As 
expected, M30 was the problem, yet M74 and M72 also created challenges for 
observers.

The participant count was rather high, much due to the clear skies after 
months of badly needed precipitation throughout the state.  It also helped 
to keep the dust down on the Sonoran Desert. Our thanks to Ray Farnsworth 
for permitting us to use the land and his standard excellent job of grading 
the dirt road for us.

There were many folks in attendance, here is a selection of a few.  Around 
midnight Jennifer Polakis came over with Donna Courtney, Robert Burnham Jr's 
niece.  She came to see what it was that fascinated her uncle and what 
fascinated us about his unique work on astronomy.  Grand Canyon Star Party 
organizers Jim O'Conner for the South Rim and Steve Dodder for the North 
Rim and, finally, David Douglas for the East Valley Astronomy Club's 
All Arizona Star Party.

Many others from outside of Arizona were there, beginning with George 
Robinson, who does the Messier Marathon by memory.  He calls it the MMM.  
From Seattle, WA Cal Drake; Truckee, CA Dean Oertle and Minnetonka, MN 
John Krawczak.  Finally from Clifton Park, NY we found Greg Kettell who 
perhaps traveled the fartherest.

For our international visitors there was the always welcome Dr. Salvador 
Aguirre from Hermosillo, Mexico and another participant from Vancouver, 
British Columbia Canada.

The most notable non-marathon event was a vehicle driving around in the 
desert near the observing site.  It had no lights and seemed to drive 
around for about an hour or so, then disappeared into the night.

Several family units were observing together and, amongst them, were 
father/daughter, grandfather/grandson/granddaughter and father/son.  
I may have missed on or two here.

Rick Tejea took care of the T-shirt sales.  At almost the last minute he 
got a setup from John Snider of Snider Graphics.  The sales went as fast 
a hot cakes.

While I personally didn't do the marathon, it was great being seeing and 
speaking with so many folks.  There is an observation or two worth 
mentioning and has to do with smaller telescopes.  Turns out Rick Tejera 
had the smallest scope, his 60mm ETX with the dependable GoTo.  He found 
109 objects.  Next was Ken Reeve's 3" f4 Dobsonian.  He star hopped with 
this one using his 20" Dobsonian - stopped down to 8".  We looked at M1 
and M45 in the little one.  Not bad images for a $30.00 telescope.  
Although Ken did 55 objects, it was on purpose as he called it his 
half-marathon.  Yup, Rick's ETX also has very nice images.

Finally, I can't overlook my thanks to Rick Tejera for his assistance.  
Thanks Rick!


AJ Crayon
Saguaro Astronomy Club