Messier Marathon 1999

This year 1999, March New Moon will occur on March 17.8, giving the best opportunity for a Messier Marathon weekend on March 20 and a secondary chance on March 13, 1999. As the second-best chance occurs first, one may be well adviced to take this one also, or of course any date during the week if possible. At least near the second (better) date, there will be a good chance to see all 110 Messier objects in one night for observers between 20 and 40 degrees Northern latitude. This year, there will be a considerably good chance to combine the Messier marathon with an all-planet marathon, i.e. you can observe all solar-system planets during this night. While no spectacularly bright comet and - up to now - no considerable supernova was detected to be present at this time as in former years, four cometsbrighter than magnitude 13 are visible, accordint to the JPL List of Currently Visible Comets:

Comet				RA (2000.0) Dec		RA (2000.0) Dec		mag
				March 13, 1999		March 20, 1999

C/1998 M5 (LINEAR)		20:04      +87:29.0	07:39      +87:19.8	 9.6
C/1998 P1 (Williams)		07 48.87   +41 59.3	07 38.37   +42 03.8	12.6
C/1998 U5 (LINEAR)		21 02.68   +14 00.8	21 01.01   +14 14.1 	12.2
P/1998 U3 (Jager)		06 39.25   +22 13.9	06 44.97   +21 18.7	10.8

Also, meteors from various showers may occur, and depending on your location, you may be able to observe the International Space Station, ISS or the Russian Space Station Mir.

Messier Marathon Events 1999

The following Messier Marathon Events have been announced:

The 1999 All Arizona Messier Marathon will be held Saturday, March 13, 1999, again at Ray Farnsworth's site south of Arizona City, AZ (see map).
There will be a Messier Marathon at Hudson Lake Michigan on Mar 13-14 sponsored by the University Lowbrow Astronomer's Club. The actual event will be at the Lake Hudson State Park just outside of Hudson Michigan. That park is an official state-sponsored dark site.
The Astronomy Connection in the San Francisco bay area will hold a Messier Marathon, in the new California state park, Pacheco State Park, which has the darkest skies available in that area. This event will take place March 19-20, 1999.
The Local Group of Deep Sky Observers will sponsor a Messier Marathon, the Highlands Messier Party '99, during March 18-21. Actual Marathon date will be March 19, and will be tried again on March 20, should the weather go sour. It will be held at 9 Mile Campground, 17 miles west of Okeechobee, Florida. For more information, contact Susan S. Carroll
The 1999 East Coast Star Party's Messier Marathon, organized by Kent Blackwell, will take place in Coinjock, NC (one hour south of Norfolk, VA) on March 12-13, 1999 (rain date: March 19-20).
The Northern Virginia Astronomy Club will hold a Messier Marathon on March 20-21, 1999 at C.M. Crockett Park.

Late Additions!

The San Diego Astronomy Association is holding a Messier Marathon at it's Tierra del Sol observing site. This year the Marathon is hosted at the Tierra del Sol site by Craig Ewing (e-mail Craig or call at 619-581-2582 for details, or come to TDS).
The Puerto Rico Astronomy Society held their first Marathon at Hacienda La Esperanza Manati, Puerto Rico on March 20th 1999 (communicated by Rafael Castro Sociedad de Astronomia de Puerto Rico)
There will be a Messier Marathon at Hudson Lake Michigan on March 13-14, 1999 sponsored by the University Lowbrow Astronomer's Club. The actual event will be at the Lake Hudson State Park just outside of Hudson Michigan. That park is an official state-sponsored dark site.

Please email me any further scheduled events for inclusion here.

If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, 1999 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 3, 1999