Warming up for the messier marathon

Just wondering if anyone is planning on doing a messier marathon this year.

We had a great observing session in Kerry this evening. In the last hour or two we swept up all the messiers in Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, cassiopea, gemini, auriga, Orion, taurus, canis major, Leo, Cancer, Earlier we got Andromeda and lepus, We also picked up M57, M13, M46, M47 and M34,

We made a start on Coma / Virgo but We never really got to grips with this area. The cold and too many faint fuzzies, too close together beat us.

Can anyone suggest an easy way to tackle this area, I have had little to no experiece in this region.

We also had some of our best views of Saturn of the season so far. The Cassini division was constant throughout the evening and lots of detail and shading on the planet was visible. A brilliant night

Hi Trevor

A book I have sets out to view the Virgo cluster, I'll translate it for you.

With a wide field eyepiece find Rho Virginis, from there go 1.5 degrees N and you'll find M59 & M60, M60 being the eastern of the pair. From M59 go 1 degree W to M58.
From M58 go 0.25 degrees W and 1 degree N to pick up M89 & M90, M90 being the northern galaxy.
From M90 go 1 degree W and 1.5 degrees N to M88. From M88 go 1 degree E and slightly N to pick up M91.
Go back to M89 and go 1.25 degrees W and slightly S to M87. From M87 go 1.25 degrees W and 0.5 degrees N to M84 & M86.
That's Virgo covered.

Find the 5th magnitude 6 Comae Berenices, 6 degrees east of Beta Leonis. 0.5 degrees W of 6 Comae lies M98. From 6 Comae go 0.5 degrees S and 0.75 degrees E to M99.
Go back to 6 Comae Berenices, go 2 degrees E and 1 degree N and there's M100. From M100 go 0.5 degrees W and 2 degrees N to the 5th magnitude star 11 Comae Bernices. From 11 Comae go 1 degree E and 0.25 degrees N to find M85.

That's it.

Hope this helps

Paul

Thanks Paul

Will have a go at this the next night.

I think there is less than an 8 week window at this time of year (till mid-April??) to catch all 105 (and then some) Messier Objects in ONE NIGHT. Michael's Messier Challenge Handbook should prove to be a good tool for anyone trying to observe them.

I think we will have ago in Kerry around paddys weekend, perhaps sunday the 18th. The moon is out of the way also. We probably wont get them all, but if it is clear, we will give it a good rattle. Not sure if they are all visible on that night, some more planning is in order