Team: Ganesh Raja, Ranjit N (both members of Bangalore Astronomical society) Latitude/Logitude: 12.3862049 North,75.5125088 East. Altitude: Approximately 1100 masl. Date: 12th March 2024 Equipment: Skywatcher 10" Goto Dobsonian Telescope, 25mm Plossl eyepiece for all objects. Teamed with Ranjith on 12th March 2024 and did a Messier Marathon in the recently concluded Bangalore Astronomical Society star party in Coorg from 8th to 12th March. We observed 97 objects out of the 110, using a Skywatcher 10" Goto Dobsonian telescope with a 25mm Plossl eyepiece with a 48x magnification. We faced some technical issues with the telescope during the evening rush. Due to some error in 3-star alignment, we could not see 8 of the 10 evening rush objects. Post dinner, we fixed the issue with the alignment and started at 9:30. Between 9:30 p.m and 1:30 a.m, we observed 62 objects. We had to spend more time locating some of the objects either due to them being out of the FOV or due to them being very dim (like M95, M97, M109). We were able to go through many of the objects like open clusters and globular clusters in a breeze due to the Goto and also because the objects were very bright in the field of view. We took a nap between 1:30 a.m to 3:15 a.m and were back to observe at 3:30. When we started the alignment, the sky was clear with a small patch of cloud. As soon as we completed the alignment, sky was completely covered in clouds. Finally, the clouds cleared a little after 4:00AM and we resumed. We quickly covered all the 3:00AM and 4:00AM objects in an hour as most of the objects were Globular Clusters and Open clusters. When we reached the morning rush objects, we could only cover 3 of the 7 objects. The objects in Aquarius and Capricorn were very low in the horizon below tree line. We kept hopping between objects to see if any of them cleared the tree line and caught M75. But other objects remained below the tree line. At last, we called it off at 5:30AM with a total of 97 objects covered. We faced a few equipment issues: 1. Initially, we were using a Wifi adapter connected to the telescope and used the phone to control. But once the Wifi disconnected and we had to do the alignment again. We decided to prevent further time loss and switched to the hand controller. After switching to hand controller, we did not face any alignment issues. 2. The battery ran out of juice at around 12:45. After this, we connected a power supply adapter. However with the power supply adapter, the wire used to get wound up and we had to constantly keep an eye on the cables to prevent cable snag. Overall, it was a very satisfying night of observation. We did not have much hope due the previous few days of the star party getting washed out due to clouds. But luck was on our side on the last day of the star party. Though using a GoTo telescope cannot be compared to the effort and skill of Marathoners who use manual scopes and star hopping, we had a great time teaming up and observing so many objects in the same night. Evening Rush Objects - 7:30PM # Messier # Common name Constellation Object Type Time Comments 1 M52 Scorpion Cluster Cassieopia Open cluster DNO 2 M31 Andromeda Galaxy Andromeda Galaxy DNO 3 M32 Andromeda Galaxy DNO 4 M110 Andromeda Galaxy Satellite Andromeda Galaxy DNO 5 M74 Phantom Galaxy Pisces Galaxy DNO 6 M77 Squid Galaxy Cetus Galaxy DNO 7 M33 Triangulum Galaxy Triangulum Galaxy DNO 8 M103 Cassieopia Open cluster 07:40 9 M76 Little Dumbell Nebula Perseus Planetary Nebula DNO 10 M34 Spiral Cluster Perseus Open cluster 19:54 9:00PM to 2:00AM Objects # Messier # Common name Constellation Object Type Time Comments 11 M45 Pleiades Taurus Open cluster 20:15 Observed with naked eye. Too big for the FOV of the telescope. 12 M79 Lepus Globular cluster 22:03 Very faint globular cluster. 13 M42 Orion Nebula Orion Nebula 20:12 14 M43 Running man nebula Orion Nebula 20:13 15 M78 Orion Reflection Nebula 22:12 16 M1 Crab Nebula Taurus Supernova Remnant 21:51 A very faint patch visible with averted vision. 17 M35 Shoe buckle cluster Gemini Open cluster 21:43 18 M37 Salt and pepper cluster Auriga Open cluster 21:47 A mix of bright and fain stars resembling salt and pepper. 19 M36 Pinwheel cluster Auriga Open cluster 21:45 Could visualize a pinwheel. 20 M38 Starfish cluster Auriga Open cluster 21:41 Could make out the main branches resembling a starfish. 21 M41 Little Beehive cluster Canis Major Open cluster 22:14 Beautiful cluster. Looked like a jewel box. 22 M93 Critter cluster Puppis Open cluster 22:17 23 M47 Puppis Open cluster 22:20 Looked like a double headed arrow. 24 M46 Puppis Open cluster 22:22 25 M50 Heart shaped cluster Monoceros Open cluster 22:25 Could visualize the shape of heart. 26 M48 Hydra Open cluster 22:27 27 M44 Beehive cluster Cancer Open cluster 22:29 Stars were too scattered. Object too big for the FOV of the telescope. 28 M67 King Cobra cluster Cancer Open cluster 22:32 Looked like a cobra viewed head on. 29 M95 Leo Galaxy 23:10 Took more than 15 minutes to locate this one. Due to some error in Goto, this was out of the FOV. Took 15 mins to located the galaxy which was outside the field. 30 M96 Leo Galaxy 23:00 Small and fuzzy. 31 M105 Leo Galaxy 23:05 Again used star field pattern. From HD93273 look towards top right and two fuzzies - M105 and NGC3384 visible in the same FoV of eyepiece. 32 M65 Leo Triplet Leo Galaxy 23:20 Observed M65, M66 and NGC3628 in the same FOV. 33 M66 Leo Triplet Leo Galaxy 23:20 34 M81 Bode's Galaxy Ursa Major Galaxy 23:25 M81 and M82 in the same FOV. 35 M82 Cigar Galaxy Ursa Major Galaxy 23:25 36 M97 Owl Nebula Ursa Major Planetary Nebula 23:34 Was a difficult object to spot. Located three bright stars forming a triangle. Owl nebula visible with averted vision opposite to this triangle. 37 M108 Surfboard Galaxy Ursa Major Galaxy 23:37 This one is close to Owl nebula.Instead of using the Goto, used the star field in Stellarium on phone and moved the field to the right to observe this dim fuzzy. 38 M109 Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy Ursa Major Galaxy 23:45 Very difficult to spot. This was a very dim target and had to move the eyes left to right several times to see this object appearing as a flash in the FOV. 39 M40 Winnecke 4 Double star Ursa Major Double star 23:48 40 M106 Canes Venatici Galaxy 23:49 41 M94 Croc's Eye Galaxy Canes Venatici Galaxy 11:51 42 M63 Sunflower Galaxy Canes Venatici Galaxy 11:53 43 M51 Whirlpool Galaxy Canes Venatici Galaxy 11:56 44 M101 Pinwheel Galaxy Ursa Major Galaxy DNO Was very difficult to spot as this is a very low surface brightness object.We could confirm that we were at the right spot with star field pattern, but we could not resolve the Galaxy 45 M102 Ursa Major Galaxy 00:22 Located between 3 stars with averted vision 46 M53 Coma Berenices Globular cluster 00:08 47 M64 Black Eye Galaxy Coma Berenices Galaxy 00:25 48 M3 Canes Venatici Globular cluster 00:26 49 M98 Coma Berenices Galaxy 00:30 50 M85 Coma Berenices Galaxy 00:34 51 M99 Coma Berenices Galaxy 00:38 52 M100 Coma Berenices Galaxy 00:40 53 M84 Markarian chain Virgo Galaxy 00:42 M84 and M86 in the same FOV 54 M86 Markarian chain Virgo Galaxy 00:42 55 M87 Virgo Galaxy 00:52 56 M89 Virgo Galaxy 00:58 M89 and M90 in the same FOV 57 M90 Virgo Galaxy 00:58 58 M88 Coma Berenices Galaxy 01:02 59 M91 Coma Berenices Galaxy 01:04 60 M58 Virgo Galaxy 01:05 61 M59 Virgo Galaxy 01:03 Same FOV 62 M60 Virgo Elliptical Galaxy 01:03 63 M49 Virgo Elliptical Galaxy 01:10 64 M61 Swelling Spiral Galaxy Virgo Spiral Galaxy 01:13 65 M104 Sombrero Galaxy Virgo Peculiar Galaxy 01:15 66 M68 Hydra Globular cluster 01:16 67 M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy Hydra Spiral Galaxy 01:18 68 M5 Serpens Globular cluster 01:19 3:00 AM Objects # Messier # Common name Constellation Object Type Time Comments 69 M13 Hercules Globular Cluster Hercules Globular cluster 01:22 A large and beautiful globular cluster. For me, this is the next best GC after Omega Centauri. 70 M92 Hercules Globular cluster 01:25 71 M107 Crucifix cluster Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:09 72 M10 Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:10 73 M12 Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:11 74 M14 Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:12 75 M9 Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:13 76 M19 Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:14 77 M62 Ophiuchus Globular cluster 04:15 78 M4 Crab Globular Cluster Scorpius Globular cluster 04:16 4:00AM Objects # Messier # Common name Constellation Object Type Time Comments 79 M80 Scorpius Globular cluster 04:17 80 M57 Ring Nebula Lyra Planetary Nebula 04:05 81 M56 Lyra Globular cluster 04:23 Very faint Globular Cluster 82 M29 Cygnus Open cluster 04:25 83 M39 Cygnus Open cluster 04:30 84 M27 Dumbbell Nebula Vulpecula Planetary Nebula 04:35 85 M71 Angelfish cluster Sagita Globular cluster 04:37 86 M6 Butterfly Cluster Scorpius Open cluster 04:27 Could see a butterfly shape. 87 M7 Ptolemy's Cluster Scorpius Open cluster 04:29 88 M11 Wild Duck cluster Scutum Open cluster 04:41 89 M26 Sagittarius Open cluster 04:43 90 M16 Eagle Nebula Serpens Nebula 04:45 91 M17 Swan Nebula Sagittarius Open cluster 04:47 92 M18 Black Swan Cluster Sagittarius Open cluster 04:48 93 M24 Star Cloud Sagittarius Star Cloud 04:50 Could not see the entire star cloud in the telescope FOV. Observed the stars that were in the FOV. 94 M25 Sagittarius Open cluster 04:51 95 M23 Sagittarius Open cluster 04:52 96 M21 Webb's Cross Sagittarius Open cluster 04:53 97 M20 Trifid Nebula Sagittarius Nebula 04:55 Observed the nebulosity around a couple of bright stars. I felt like I could see the divide. But not sure if this was an illusion. 98 M8 Lagoon Nebula Sagittarius Nebula 04:56 99 M28 Sagittarius Globular cluster 04:57 100 M22 Great Sagittarius Cluster Sagittarius Globular cluster 04:58 101 M69 Sagittarius Globular cluster 04:59 Small globular cluster 102 M70 Sagittarius Globular cluster 05:00 Very small globular cluster 103 M54 Sagittarius Globular cluster 05:01 Morning Rush Objects - 5:00AM # Messier # Common name Constellation Object Type Time Comments 104 M55 Specter Cluster Sagittarius Globular cluster 05:03 Very faint globular cluster. Had to locate this using star field pattern 105 M75 Sagittarius Globular cluster 05:13 Very small and faint globular cluster 106 M15 Pegassus Globular cluster 05:24 107 M72 Aquarius Globular cluster DNO 108 M2 Aquarius Globular cluster DNO 109 M73 Aquarius Open cluster DNO 110 M30 Jellyfish Cluster Capricornus Globular cluster DNO DNO: Did not observe. Best regards, Ganesh Raja and Ranjit Neelakandan.