Date: Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 1:10 PM
From: Harvey Hitchcock
Subject: Friday April 1, 2011 The day before the All Arizona Messier
  Marathon, My Marathon

Gentlemen:  Due to weather concerns, I  chose to attempt the Messier
Marathon the day before the official AAMM, so my efforts were not recognized
by AJ Crayon and SAC.  He saw my email to the East Valley Astronomy Club and
asked me to submit it to you for your consideration.

On Friday night, I went out to Hovatter Air Strip site and participated in
my first Messier Marathon.  Most of our members have had this experience, so
this little synopsis is for those who haven’t; here’s how it worked for me.

My equipment was an Orion SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope, an Orion binoviewer &
2x Barlow with 20mm eyepieces (x125), and the MM list posted on the Saguaro
Astronomy Club web site.   I used the electronic object finder to locate
everything, and it worked pretty well.   The electronics put about half of
the objects in my field of view, I needed to use the finder scope to center
the other objects.   There were a few objects too dim for the finder scope,
so I had to nudge the scope and search.  If I had used a 2” 35MM (43x)
eyepiece,  I think the InteleScope would have put all objects into this
wider view.  I used binoviewer and a little more power for a more enjoyable
view (in my opinion) of most objects.   I did take the time to view the
larger objects with my 20X80 binoculars.
 
The first few objects M77, M74 & M33 were the most difficult because they
are low in the western sky and are moving down toward the horizon; and it
wasn’t dark enough for them to really stand out.  I was unable to see M74,
and I could just make out a hint of M33 with averted vision.  The last
object (M30) was also difficult for me, again it was very low on the horizon
and it was rising as darkness was being lost.  But I did find it.  So in the
end I saw everything except M74.
 
I found the first object at 8:05pm and viewed about 65 objects by midnight
(pretty much everything that was visible).  I took a 2 ½ hour nap while the
earth spun a few more constellations into view.  Between 2:30 and 3:30 I
view the next 35 objects; then I took another nap while the sky revealed the
last few Messier Objects.  I viewed most of the last group between 4:45 and
 5:00am.   I started looking for the last object (M30) around 5:00am.  It was
very low on the horizon and as luck would have it, there was a bush between
me and M30.  After about 10 minutes, M30 was above the bush, but I still
couldn’t find it.  It was too dim to see in the finder scope so I had to
nudge the scope around and search.  I was losing darkness and beginning this
think it might not be dark enough to see, and then I nudged it into view.
With hind sight, I should have dropped in my 35mm eyepiece and I could have
more easily located M30.
 
All and all it was a beautiful night, very dark; an excellent night for star
gazing.  I’m glad that I tried and completed a marathon.   But I must say,
at times it felt like I was just working through the list and not enjoying
it enough.  I think it would have been more enjoyable for me with a
co-observer.  It’s always nice to share magnificent views and discuss the
wonders of the universe.

One mistake I made was not having a clipboard with a red light attached.   I
spent a too much time and effort moving back and forth between my scope and
table (list, pen & red flash light).  The perfect solution would have been a
scope mounted bracket holding the clipboard (with a mounted red light), pen
and IntelliScope Keypad.
 
Harvey