Messier Marathon 2013

Are you ready for this years Messier Marathon?

A Messier marathon is an attempt to find as many Messier objects as possible during one night. The Messier catalogue was compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier during the late 18th century and consists of 110 relatively bright deep sky objects (galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters).

This year the best viewing dates are Sat. 9th and 16th March and on those nights in Ireland you'll be able to see 101 of the 110 objects.

Midlands Astronomy Club has pull together some detailed but easy to use maps of each Messier object and calculated the best viewing times and observing order from Dublin, Ireland. For those of you outside Dublin the time won't be exact but will certainly give you a good guide when and where to look.

Always happy to hear some feedback on the resources and how you got on.

MAC Messier Marathon 2013

Our plans are now well-advanced, in fact, they have been in place since 2005!

All we actually need now is the weather to do it.

2006 - Snow. 2007 - fog, 2008- Rain, 2009 - cloud..............etc etc etc.

Could this be the year? Doesn't look good at the moment.

That's a great guide you've put together - an excellent resource.

It's worth remembering that by March 9th comet C/2011 L4 ( PanSTARRS ) will be visible just after sunset. It should be really bright (perhaps 2nd magnitude) and would make a great bonus at the start of a Messier marathon.

With thanks,
Mike

WOW you're right I forgot about that... you do know that you've now jinxed the weather Mike don't you?