Contributed by: AJ Crayon Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 2003 All Arizona Messier Marathon The just concluded Messier Marathon was another in a long string of successes - yes perhaps I'm just a bit biased, but here are the results. You decide. The marathon was held at our usual site 30 miles outside of Arizona City, Arizona. By sunset there were approximately 80 vehicles. The final results show 56 participants turned in lists of their observations. Fourteen had found all 110 and another dozen-missed only M74. That was the biggest problem this year - observing M74. In twilight it was deeply embedded in zodiacal light, was one of five objects within 10 degrees of the horizon at evening twilight and one with the lowest surface brightness. It is no wonder this is one of the more difficult objects to observe in the Messier Catalogue. Observers were cautioned to locate M74 and stay there observing for a while, waiting for a moment of reasonable seeing as twilight deepened. Many did so and were rewarded, especially those that used a little to moderate power. The smallest telescope to catch this most difficult one was Doug Lang in a 4" refractor. Dawn Schur also located it in her 8inch f5 Dobsonian. She is the first lady to observe all 110 objects. Rosie Dodder, teamed with her husband and completed this in 2001; but Dawn did so without team assistance. Nearly everyone missed M74, except those with 110, and Maurine Hoffman who missed a number of the morning risers. Other folks of interest were Carter Smith from the Tucson Amateur Astronomical Association, who found 106 objects in his 8" Dobsonian. Carter is 10 years old, one of the youngest observers to find a large number of objects. Another, Rick Tejera, used two different telescopes and found a different number of objects for each. We may have to review our ground rules for the future on this topic. He located 101 objects in the f/5.8 ETX60 but in his 8inch there were 109 found. The always-in attendance Hazel Lawler found another high count of 105 in her 20" Dobsonian located near her very large and nice looking trailer. Could hear her oohing and ahhing about her observations all night long. Then Andrew Cooper could be heard giving hints, directions and assistance to a number of observers for locating a number of objects. David Ingram, from Washington State, attended his second marathon, the first being 2002. This year he fared better, finding 63 objects. Space artist Joe Bergeron located 109, same as myself - both of us being unable to observe M74. First time marathoners Scott Saari, his daughter Chelsea and Alan Scott commented on how much they learned from this experience. There were participants from out of state and included California, Colorado, Ohio, Michigan and Washington. You can see their names on the final standing list. We can't discuss a marathon without mentioning the weather. Just before sunset all began eyeing a small cloud band just above the western horizon, but fortunately for us it dissipated before deepening twilight - perhaps adding to the difficulty of observing M74. After that it was clear all night long albeit on the cool side by desert standards. That means the temperature was around 35 deg F just before astronomical twilight. A break down by club members shows there were 17 from East Valley Astronomy Club in Scottsdale, AZ; 16 from Saguaro Astronomy Club in metro Phoenix, AZ with five other holding dual membership in both clubs. From Tucson there were another seven folks. Nine were from out of state and there were a scattering of others with no club affiliation. Based on the vehicle count near sunset there were a little over 100 folks, indicating about half did the marathon and the others either observed from their own lists or did some photography or imaging. Unfortunately I didn't get to do much socializing this time. I'll try to do better next time! One final note of great importance, we should thank Ray Farnsworth, the landowner for permitting our use of his land for this event. AJ Crayon, e-mail acrayon at mindspring.com Jack Jones, e-mail spicastar at cybertrails.com Messier Marathon Coordinator Saguaro Astronomy Club saguaroastro.org 2003 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results March 29, 2003 at site south of Arziona City, Arizona. num name scope organ. notes 110 Chuck Akers 17.5"Dob SAC 110 James-Delix Brix 16"Dob TAAA 110 Jim-Robin Cassidy NestStar11 EVAC 110 Bob-Pat Davidson 8"Dob EVAC 110 Hinrich Eylers NextStar11 EVAC 110 David Fredericksen NextStar11 SAC 110 Jim Gutman NextStar11 EVAC 110 Howard Israel NX11 EVAC 110 Doug Lang 4"ED ref SAC 110 Brian Page 9.25SCT EVAC 110 Tom Polakis 10"DOB EVAC/SAC 110 Thad Robosson 15"f5DOB SAC 110 Dawn Schur 8"f5DOB SAC/EVAC 110 David Shafer LX200 EVAC 109 Joseph Converse LX200 Piqua, OH 74 109 AJ Crayon 14"/f5Dob SAC/EVAC 74 109 Joe Bergeron 10"f6DOB CLAS 74 109 Paul Dickson 14.5"f5Newt SAC 74 109 Steve-Rosie Dodder C-8 SAC 74 109 Ray Horneman LX90 EVAC 74 109 Jack Jones 14.5"f5Newt SAC 74 109 Jennifer Keller 10"DOB SAC 74 109 Paul Lind 14.5"f4.7DOB SAC 74 109 Richard Payne 8"f6Newt SAC 74 109 Matt Spinelli 8"SCT EVAC 74 109 Rick Tejera 8"f6DOB SAC 74 108 Bill Buckingham 10"DOB AAJ 74, 73 108 Bob Frybarger 10"DOB AAJ 74, 73 108 Wade Holguin NextStar11 none 74, 33 108 Craig Kulesa 10"DOB SO 74, 30 108 Steve Smith unknown unknown 74, 30 107 David Gale 10"f6DOB TAAA 74, 33, 30 107 Dave Lehnen C-11 EVAC 74, 33, 110 107 Bill Lofquist 6"DOB TAAA 74, 33, 30 106 Andess-Rick CarlsonC-8 DAC 77, 74, 33, 30 106 Maurine Hoffman C-5 Sedona AZ 2, 72, 73, 30 106 Carter Smith 8"DOB TAAA 74, 33, 72, 30 105 Charles M. Eye C-11 SAC 77, 74, 33, 110, 2 105 Hazel Lawler 20"DOB TAAA 74, 33, 31, 32, 110 102 Roger Hutchins 15"DOB EVAC 74 33 76 75 2 72 73 30 102 Aronne Merrelli 15"f4.5DOB MVAS 77, 74, 49, 61, 2, 72, 73, 30 102 David Trogon LX200 EVAC 77 74 33 32 110 103 72 30 101 Dave Merrelli 15"DOB MVAS 77 74 33 49 61 2 72 73 30 100 Peter Argenziano 13.1"DOB EVAC/SAC 77 74 53 68 83 29 39 72 73 30 88 Janet Merrelli unknown MVAS 84 Dennis Elarton 10"DOB EVAC 84 Sheryl Gambordella 8"DOB SAC 80 Al Stiewing 16"DOB SAC 67 John Matthews ETX90 EVAC 65 Anne Marie Cooper LX200 SAC/EVAC 65 David Hardinger LX200 SAC/EVAC 65 John R. Moore LX90 EVAC 65 Chuck Shields LX-5 EVAC 63 David Ingram C-8 Kent, WA 58 Nick DeMesa unknown TAAA AAJ == Amateur Astronomers of Jackson, Michigan URL http://aaoj.homestead.com/files/aaoj.htm CLAS == China Lake Astronomical Society, Onyx, California URL http://homepage.mac.com/joebergeron/ EVAC == East Valley Astronomy Club, Scottsdale, AZ DAC == Durango Astronomy Club, Durango, Colorado URL can't find. MVAS == Miami Valley Astronomical Society, Beaver Creek, Ohio URS http://www.mvas.org/ SAC == Saguaro Astronomy Club, Phoenix, AZ SO == Steward Observatory TAAA == Tucson Amateur Astronomical Association, Tucson, AZ