Messier Marathon 1998

This was our announce for the 1998 Messier Marathon. As this event is now over, we collect the 1998 and earlier Messier Marathon results. To contribute, simply send me an email with your or your groups results and/or a link to your own results page.

This year, the date around the weekend from Friday 27 to Sunday 29th of March, 1998 gives a good opportunity to observe actually all 110 Messier objects, for observers of mid-northern latitude (20-40 deg). Unlike the last two years, no spectacular comet is present this time, so you can perhaps concentrate more on the Messier deep sky objects. In addition, you can easily observe the planets Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto during this night (provided Pluto is visible with your scope at all); there's also a chance to view Mercury, Saturn and Mars very low down west after sunset, so that it may be possible to combine the Messier with a solar system marathon (thanks to Bill Arnett for this hint). Meteors might be visible from the following showers: Eta Draconids, Beta Leonids, perhaps some Leonids-Ursids, Eta Virginids, or Pi Virginids. Comets visible, according to the JPL index of Currently Visible Comets, sorted by apparent magnitude (for March 28, 1998):

Comet                       RA (2000.0) Dec  mag

C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp         04:59.9  -53:43   8.0
C/1997 J2 Meunier-Dupouy    21:48.0  +31:44  11.2
C/1997 T1 Utsunomiya        18:06.7  -10:44  12.2
103P/Hartley 2              05:13.5  +07:31  12.9
43P/Wolf-Harrington         09:25.8  -15:46  14.3
C/1996 D1 Mueller           02:36.7  -11:56  15.0
104P/Kowal 2                04:02.1  +14:07  15.3
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1  13:30.1  -20:45  15.6
78P/Gehrels 2               06:44.1  +16:07  16.0
C/1997 O1 Tilbrook          15:21.7  +73:36  16.1
128P/Shoemaker-Holt 1       04:53.3  +19:09  16.1
132P/Helin-Roman-Alu 2      04:46.3  +17:07  18.3

Supernova ! A very special bonus is the 12th-magnitude supernova 1998S, which occurred timely in the galaxy NGC 3877 in Ursa Major; this galaxy is also only about 12th magnitude, but many amateurs will be able to get it in a break in the marathon.

Hope these enrichments will be appreciated during your marathon session !

Messier Marathon Events 1998

The following Messier Marathon Events have been announced:

The Arizona Messier Marathon 1998 will take place on Saturday, March 28, 1998 to Sunday, March 29, in Arizona City, Arizona (see map).
The Northern Virginia Astronomy Club will have their third Messier Marathon on March 27/28/29, 1998 (cloud date: April 3/4/5) at their C.M. Crockett Park site; see their announce.
Christian Harder is intending to run a Messier Marathon in Northern Germany on March 28, 1998; interested parties please contact him by email or phone (In Germany: 04265/8539).
The Astroclub Solaris Aarau will run a Messier Marathon on March 28, 1998 in Aarau/Switzerland. Attendants will meet at the Volkssternwarte Nütziweid (Schmiedrued, Schweiz).

Look at the 1998 Messier Marathon results!

If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, 1998 or earlier, if not already done so, please email me your or your group's results, or the link to your results page, for inclusion in our Messier Marathon Results page!

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Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: March 25, 1998