From: C.E. Steuart Dewar Date: Sun, Apr 2, 2017 Subject: Messier Marathon Results, 2017 - PERFECT SCORE :) After a decade of waiting for another opportunity for a Messier Marathon, C. E. Steuart Dewar finally caught all 110 objects on the night of March 25, 2017 with a pair of 37x100 Miyauchi Saturn III binoculars and a laser finder as well as Garrett 11x56 binoculars. He had only missed M30 in 2007 due to being at 35°N (which makes M30 difficult/impossible). Taking no chances, he went down to the Big Bend National Park and found a perfect spot on the side of a little-used road just outside the park. The Zodiacal light made it tougher than expected to catch M74/M110, but almost everything else was caught without much difficulty. After logging the first 70 objects by 11:30am, he then took a 3½ hr. break before setting in again at 3am (returned to camper to walk his dog!). After catching M72/73 around 5:45am, he then waited for his 2007 nemesis: M30 which rose at 6:10am. With Astronomical Dawn setting in at 6:28am, there was little time to catch M30, but at 6:32am, just as the sky started to no longer be pitch dark, M30 was clearly caught at 3½° above the horizon (testament to the great viewing down in Big Bend!). He posted a brief report on his Astronomy page at: http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/cesd-astronomy.htm and his detailed log-sheet is at: http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/2017-03-25_MessierMarathonLogSheet.pdf He found over three quarters of the objects from memory, and is already planning for an M-cubed Marathon next year from the same location -------------------- Regards, C. E. Steuart Dewar Fredericksburg, TX