Contributed by Don Machholz via Jane Houston Jones My 2004 Messier Marathon by Don Machholz For this year's 2004 Messier Marathon I drove 10 hours (601 miles) to a desert area just south of Joshua Trees Park called Red Cloud Road. This is a dirt road off Highway 10. It is federal land and one is permitted to camp out. There are no accommodations here in the desert, but two small towns, Chiriaco Summit (10 miles W) and Desert Center (10 miles E) provide places to fill up the gas tank and to eat. The observing site has a hard dirt surface, short plants in places, no dangerous critters, and you get excellent cell phone reception from there. I decided upon the nights of March 24 and 25. The new moon was March 20, so a crescent moon would be in my evening sky, getting brighter each evening. Also, the evening Messier Objects, especially M74, set earlier each successive night and become more difficult to see. Meanwhile, in the morning sky, M30, the only difficult morning object, is very difficult to see from this latitude before March 25. With each successive morning it becomes easier to see. I had tried the Messier Marathon from this location in 2001. From here I was able to see all 110 Messier Object in one night. Of the 29 Messier Marathons that I have conducted since 1979, this was the only time that I had found all 110, finding 109 ten times. To get 110 you must have a more southerly latitude than what I usually use (+37 degrees in San Jose and +39 degrees in Colfax). The Red Cloud site is at +33.6 degrees. For this Marathon I wanted to find all the objects from memory. This was a challenge thrown out by one of the Messier Marathon web sites-the "Memory Messier Marathon", and no one had yet done it. Last year from Colfax I found 108 object from memory, missing only M72 and M73 due to clouds. This was not a difficult thing to do, and I suspect that other amateurs could find all these objects without charts, maps, pre-recorded tapes, setting circles or computerized "goto" mounts if they really spent the time practicing and memorizing the list. In addition to being able to find each object, I also wanted to have the search sequence memorized. So I began each of the two nights with a blank piece of lined paper, and wrote the M-number of each object as I found it. All nine planets would also be visible on these nights. Uranus would be the most difficult, rising after M30 in the morning sky. I wanted to see all nine planets and all 110 Messier Objects in one night, since this would be our last chance to do both in the same night for over 100 years. This is because Uranus will be in the solar glare between next year (when both Mercury and Venus are near the sun) until it emerges into the evening Messier Marathon sky in about the year 2014. But by then Neptune will be in the solar glare until about the year 2045. By then, however, the planet Pluto (assuming it is still considered a planet at that time) will be in the solar glare until it emerges into the evening late March sky in the year 2110, over 100 years away. To repeat, each year, with good conditions, all 110 Messier Objects can be seen in one night. And most years, for a few weeks, all nine planets can be seen in one night. It is just that doing both in one night will not be possible for about 100 years. So I left for the desert on a Wednesday morning arriving by 3PM. There I met George Robinson, an amateur astronomer from Auburn, who would also be staying for two days with me in the desert. I had announced to a few groups of amateur astronomers that I would be going to the site for the Messier Marathon, but only a couple of people responded. I had hoped that we could really get a larger group down there. As George and I were setting up, Mojo and Jane Houston arrived from Monrovia, CA, a 3-hour drive for them. They had 14" and 12" telescopes, George had a 10" and I had a 6", all reflectors. My scope is an old Criterion Dynoscope, on an equatorial mount. The eyepiece is a 2" OD one, mounted on the 1.25" eyepiece holder with a plumbing fixture. It gives a field of view of about 1.6 degrees and about 30 power. My finder is the original 6x30mm. It was very cloudy when we arrived, with two layers of clouds. But since we had nothing better to do, and to appear optimistic, we all set up our telescopes anyway. But as the sun set, a strange thing began to happen. The clouds thinned and moved to the east, revealing a mostly clear sky to the west. We found the crescent moon, Venus, and then as Mercury beginning to appear, Mojo Houston found M77. I turned my telescope to the region, and among broken clouds, also found M77. I then went to the location for M74 and watched for it to appear in the field of view, but could never really see it, although Mojo and Jane saw it in their larger telescopes. I was one for two. I then went on to M33, M 31, M 32, M110, etc. By time I went to bed at 9:30 PM I had found all the planets from Mercury to Saturn and 63 Messier Objects, all that were above the eastern clouds at the time. The only evening object I missed was M74. I awoke at 2AM to a clear sky. I resumed the search with M83 and then moved eastward at a leisurely pace. We picked up Pluto, and later Neptune. In the predawn sky I missed M30-I found the region it was in but did not actually see it. I did not go after Uranus, as I was too busy trying to see M30. So I ended my first night with 108 Messier Objects from memory, and eight planets. Mojo and Jane got all but M30, with Jane getting all nine planets. George got "about 75" objects, and saw eight planets. Pretty good for a guy doing his first Messier Marathon. Mojo and Jane left at dawn, George and I would stay for a second night. I slept in my tent for a couple of hours while George went out to get himself some breakfast. He came back at about 8AM and we sat around reading and snoozing in the hot desert until we went to lunch at Chiriaco Summit near noon. We then came back to the campsite and took a hike of about 4 miles though the scenic desert. The weather was perfect, nearly a cloud in the sky. Near 4 PM a wind came up from the SW, something that occurred the previous day, only to die down near dusk. So George and I began our second night finding the bright planets as darkness fell, and we both began our Messier list. M77 was easy in twilight, then I went to M74. It took some time before I saw it, with each passing minute it gets lower in the sky, making it more difficult to see, but the sky is also getting progressively darker, making it easier to see. Somewhere in there, with just the right combination of sky darkness and object altitude, it may just pop into view. I was able to see it, but it was faint. I then went on to the other Messier Objects, finding 66 by 8:45 PM. I went to bed in the tent while George stayed up, finding objects using my Messier Marathon book and, on occasion, electronic setting circles. He went to bed in his truck at about midnight. Upon awaking at 2 AM I was surprised to find thick clouds covering the sky. But by 2:45 it was beginning to thin in the west, so I resumed the Marathon by finding M83 in the SW and continuing across the sky. I found Pluto just as the clouds were leaving that part of the sky, and before M30 even rose I was poised in the vicinity of its rising. I saw the two guide stars near M30, then finally it came into view. My last challenge was Uranus. I found it in the morning twilight, and confirmed it by noticing the shape and comparing it to the star field on a star map I had printed earlier. George found 107 objects and saw all nine planets. I found 110 Messier Objects, all from memory and all nine planets. It was a good night. We stayed awake, broke camp, and drove home...George back to Phoenix (where he had been visiting his daughter) and me to Colfax. Don Machholz