Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 21:45:30 -0700 From: Thom/TFW Subject: Messier Marathon Results The Sirius Lookers, Sedona Astronomy Club held a marathon March 29th at our Two Trees (not to take away from SAC's All Arizona but some felt it was to far to drive) site in Coconino National Forest south of Sedona. We had about 25 observers from the clubs around us (Flagstaff, Sedona, Cottonwood, a couple from Phoenix) but only a few that seriously wanted to marathon. (most just wanted to play with their scopes). We didn't know if all the objects were visible from the site just offered another place to observe with friends. We found out the Two Trees site works. Padraig Houlahan of Flagstaff's CAS http://www.lowell.edu/cas/ managed to get all 110 Messier Objects with a 10" Discovery dob. Adam Bloomer of Phoenix's PAS and Sirius Lookers managed 103 missing M77, M31, M32, M110, M72, M73 and M30 with an Orion XT10. Not bad for a 1st timer. The rest of us got anywhere from 20 to 50 when visiting and looking through other scopes became more important. We'll try again next year (or maybe just have fun again) "Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means" Francis Hutchenson a Scot philosopher Thom Walczak www.siriuslookers.org