DAVID'S ASTRO CORNER - David Stine(Comet- 1) The clouds cleared and the TUVA Messier Marathon turned out to be the best marathon in many years. It was a bit breezy and cold but after you put on several layers of clothing and started observing the cold didn't really bother you. We had a great turn out and Ron and Maura Woods was once again great host as they went out of their way to make sure everyone was having a great time. The whole day started at 91st/Memorial where several Astronomy Club of Tulsa members met to caravan to the TUVA site outside of Council Hill. I, Denny Mishler, Rod Gallagher, Gerry Andries, Teresa Kincannon, and Steve Chapman began our journey. After a couple of stops to re-group we finally arrived at TUVA. Ron remarked that when he saw me leading the caravan of vehicles that it reminded him of the old days of the marathon and he knew this was going to be a good night. Maura had already starting setting up a feast in the TUVA club building, which was more than all of us could eat. We determined that the best location to set up for observing would be on the south side of the TUVA building to block the wind. We started setting our equipment and more people began to show up including long time ACT members but never around for meetings or activities because of their schedule, Phil and Linda Davis. It was great seeing and visiting with them again. Several TUVA members started showing up including photographer Gerald Miller and Thomas McNicholas. You may have seen some of Gerald's work on the TUVA website or ours. Later he would take some photos of all the activity and you can see these at www.TUVAclub.org. KC Lobrecht showed up later with lots of goodies for everyone to add to Maura's feast. I think she takes ingredients from the stars and makes those cookies, cakes, and casseroles to where they are heavenly. After everything was set up we all came in to chow down on Maura's, KC's and other TUVA and ACT member's goodies. During this time, Denny showed his Solar Eclipse video from Baja and Gerald Miller talked about the new expansion observatory he is building at TUVA North. By the time we had finished, other observers began arriving including Chris Brown and Ted Bullinger. We went back out and viewed old Sol and it was loaded with sunspots, more than I have seen in quite awhile. Rod set his scope on Jupiter even though it was still pretty light. The red spot was very prevalent. Finally the sun set and darkness started creeping upon us. Who would be the first person to capture an M object and what would it be? I handed out a Messier Marathon Sequence list for those wanting it but we decided that we would jump over to one object that was going to be easy to locate because of its near vicinity of Jupiter. Rod found it first M44 the beehive cluster right by Jupiter. Everyone else followed. The 2003 Messier Marathon had begun. We went back to the list and tried for no. 1 and 2 the elusive M74 and M77. After spending what seemed a lifetime, those two were not going to cooperate and we would miss them again this year. Rod found the next object M31 and the race was on. Through the night it was an exciting time, looking for objects and visiting with everyone. During the night Rod located the asteroid, Vesta and for many it was the first time they had observed an asteroid. There weren't as many meteors as you would expect to see, but some of us did see one or two. The neighboring cows kept mooing all night and were probably wondering what those silly humans were doing with those cannons. As the evening got later several people started dropping out. Rod and I were neck and neck up until about midnight, but after Rod breezed through the galaxies in Virgo I was left in the dust. I wanted to try for the Omega Centaurus globular so around 2a.m. I used binoculars and panned the southern horizon in the general area where the globular should be and low and behold there it was, very large but dim. Most everyone had gone into the building by 4a.m. and Rod and I were the only ones still observing M- object's Twilight was creeping upon us and it didn't look like we were going to get those last few. Rod found the bright small globular M15 through the trees around 4:30a.m. It was allot brighter than I had expected and this object would be the last M object that I would locate. My final total came to 88 which I considered good, but Rod surpassed all finding 104 and winning this years David Stine Award. I don't have totals from everyone, but Denny found 38 and Steve Chapman found 25. It was a great night for everyone and allot of fun. A thousand thank you's to Ron and Maura for hosting this annual Messier Marathon and we will be looking forward to next years marathon Tuesday night April 15 there is going to be an observing session for the Collinsville school kids. I attended this last year and it was a very enlightening experience. If you have the chance come and help out and show the wonders of the universe to these kids and parents. Saturn , Jupiter and the moon will be a highlight for these people and you will hear comments like, OK where do you have the Saturn picture located inside your scope, It just amazes people when they actually see Saturn and its rings or Jupiter's cloud bands, or galaxy's like ours thousands of light years away or seeing through a telescope without a drive how fast the earth moves or panning the craters on the moon and pretending you are an astronaut getting ready to land on its surface. These are things that you can share with the non-astronomer and get those kids started on their way to a world of astronomy. If you would like to have that experience and help out contact Gerry Andries for details and directions. That's it from my corner this month, keep your eyes upward and clear skies for everyone.