Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 06:43:26 -0500
From: Paul Hart
Subject: Messier Marathon
To: spider

Hi,

I did the 2004 Messier Marathon on the night of March 22-23, 2004 on eastern 
Long Island at Custer Institute on Southold, New York and finished with 99 
objects. I used a home made 10" dobsonian and 15 x 70 Binoculars. Missed 
M32, M33, M74 and M77 in the early evening. Got all the objects until the 
morning rush. Missed M55, 75, 15, 2 72, 73 and 30. I had hoped to get 100 
Messiers but I couldn't get that last one no matter how hard I looked. I came 
in the house 30 minutes ago, and am finally starting to warm up. It was cold 
out for this time of year the, the temperature bottomed out to the low 20's.

Transparancy and seeing were very good to excellent. Jupiter and Saturn put 
on a good show. Saw a double transit on Jupiter.

Paul Hart
Stony Brook, New York
USA

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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 12:13:08 -0500
From: Paul Hart
Subject: Messier Marathon 2004 pt.2
To: spider

Now that I grabbed a nap and am somewhat awake, I thought I would give a report
on my 2004 Messier Marathon experience. This is only my second completion out 
of 4 try's. The weather wasn't friendly in  2001 and 2003. This year we had 
very good conditions the night of March 22 - 23rd. I did a dress rehearsal last 
month on all the early objects, so I was set. Here is my report:

Name:  Paul M. Hart

Location: Custer Observatory, Southold, New York, USA, North 41.03, West 72.26

Equipment: 10 inch f/4.8 home built dobsonian.
  Eyepieces: 22mm Orion Lanthanum Superwide (55x) for M Objects,
  6mm TeleVue Radian (200x) for planets, globulars, misc.sightseeing.
  15 x 70 Bear Binoculars; Telrad Finder Books with drawings added;
  Pennington's "Year Round Messier Guide"; Phil Harrington's messier list.

Weather: Start - mid 30's w / low humidity, wind - intermittently gusty.
  Early AM -  mid 20's / no wind.

Seeing:  7-8 despite the wind at start, 10 later on.

Transparency: 8 very good for Long Island.

Total Messier Objects found: 99  (goal was 100)

I left work, drove home, packed up the car and arrived at the site shortly 
before 7 and was set up in a few minutes. At  7:05 made the first observation 
of M45. The only evening objects missed were M33 which I looked for several 
times but couldn't spot, M32, M74 and M77. From then on I spotted all of the 
objects, until the morning rush. Little  or no problems on objects until early 
in the morning when temperatures dropped and surfaces began to frost up, and 
had to use the battery powered hair dryer to keep it under control. I missed 7 
of the morning rush objects, perhaps because I wasted too much time looking for 
M55. Missed M55, M75, M15, M2, M72, M73 and M30. 

During the lulls, I used the Radian to admire the double transit on Jupiter, 
Saturn and look for the central star in M57 - no luck on that one.

Last Object: M18 @ 4:39 AM during the "filling in the blanks" portion. Sky 
rapidly brightening.

What I would do next time: Go someplace warmer, darker and dry (like Arizona).
Get more sleep, I only had 5 hours. I think fatigue may have cost me a couple 
of AM objects.

General comments: 
Pennington's book got me through the Virgo cluster. I used the Messier Telrad 
Finder Books with added drawings for the rest.

The seeing was phenomenal as  night wore on.

Paul Hart
Stony Brook, NY