Date: Monday March 14, 2016
From: Russell Pinizzotto
Subject: 2017 Messier Marathon Results

Fellow Astronomers,

Just in case any of you were wondering, I did a Messier Marathon last night / 
this morning. The results -

103 Messier objects
4 planets (plus Earth)
5 satellites
Comet 41P
Moon

Objects not observed -
M74 at the start
M75, M2, M72, M73, M55, M30 at the end
I never saw Venus even though I started at 7:00 specifically to observe 
Venus and Mercury. Otherwise I would have started at 8:00.
I use NGC 5866 as M102 (Yes, Paul, that's debatable!)

Observing times -
7:00 to 10:54 for 63 M objects, 1 comet, 3 planets, 2 unaided eye satellites
12:59 to 1:16 for 6 M objects
2:58 to 5:45 for 34 M objects, 1 planet, 3 unaided eye satellites, Moon
(M objects were done at 5:04 due to moonlight interference and low altitudes. 
Even though it's close to New Moon, it's in Capricorn!)

Equipment -
Canon 18x50 IS
Oberwerk 25x100 IF on Bogen tripod and Virgo parallelogram mount
IPad with Sky Safari 4

It was about 18F with winds at 10 gusting to 25 from the NNW most of the 
night. The wind would shake the mount, me, and even the dock. The batteries 
in my Canon binoculars, headlamp, iPad, iPhone and even the extra iPhone 
battery pack all gave out at various times during the night and had to be 
replaced. It was definitely cold.

It's predicted to start clouding up tonight around midnight, so I think I 
picked the only possible time to try it this year.

Clear Skies,
Russ

R.F. Pinizzotto, Ph.D.
Crow's Nest Observatory