Date: Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 9:33 AM
From: F J JR RAINS
Subject: Messier Marathon 2020 report

Hey there from Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. 

I held a secluded suburban Messier Marathon on March 25/26. The skies 
cleared up for the first time in weeks and the club events have all been 
cancelled due to the health emergency so I decided to see just what could 
be observed all by myself from the driveway here at home. Only 55 of the 
110 objects can be seen from our house here in the suburbs south of 
Birmingham. Trees, the house itself, and Oak Mountain due south obstruct 
the rest. Everything below -5 deg declination is hidden. I still ended up 
seeing 39 of the objects that were available. The remaining 16 were just 
too faint for the little 50+ year old Questar Standard 89mm Mak on this 
night. I could see objects down to mag 9.3 but nothing fainter. I am 
using the word "see" very loosely here.  Some of the fainter objects i 
had to wait for a full 60 seconds or more at the eyepiece and then I had 
to move it slightly to make sure. One exception to the 9.3 mag limit was 
M100 in Coma. It and M105 and M65, both in Leo, are all mag 9.3 objects. 
I could "see" the Leo objects but never did detect M100 no matter how 
long I waited or how much I moved the scope. Although they are all three 
shown as mag 9.3, M100 is spread out over a much larger ( relatively 
speaking) area. That could explain it. Still - not bad for Bortle 5/6 
skies and a light dome to the north. Clouds stayed away, temps were in 
the mid 50's F, seeing and transparency were average, and there was no 
wind or moon to contend with. Eyepiece used was a 24mm Brandon with the 
internal barlow giving the best views of the galaxies. I took breaks for 
supper and a short nap around 3am waiting for more objects to clear the 
trees. I finished up at 5am. I moved the scope three times during the 
night and early morning to different positions along the driveway. The Q 
is perfect for this. Mine is mounted on a TriStand and you just pick the 
whole thing up and do a quick polar alignment at the new spot. Leave the 
Powerguide tracking motor running and you're good to go as soon as you're 
aligned. A larger scope would have taken much more effort to move around.

I used the Don Machholz search sequence off of the SEDS site. That list, 
a red pen light, the Questar and TriStand, a small folding aluminum table, 
and a Star Bound observing chair were all I needed. A minimalist approach 
that worked.

The first 10 objects on the list were already below the trees to the West 
at 8PM CDT when I started and the last 20 or so were in the trees to the 
East when i stopped at 5AM. I did manage to catch M27 between the limbs 
of a large River Birch tree in our front yard.

We can't all get together right now but we can still do what we can from 
where we are and stay connected through sites like SEDS.

Did I mention I had fun? :-)

Fred Rains
Outreach Coordinator
Birmingham Astronomical Society of Alabama