I went to Coyote with the idea of avoiding Messier Marathon Madness,
so
what did I do? I did most of a Messier Marathon, my first. Bottom line - I
got
101/109, missing 77,74 (clouds), 32,110 (31 was just a brighter patch in the
clouds, so I didn't try), 61 (fell through the cracks when I was in Downtown
Virgo), 79 (hills, clouds), 33 and 30 (hills in E). I didn't try all that
hard
because I wanted it to be a relaxed session, more to remind me of all those
objects
I often forget about, rather than a mad rush to complete a race. I did try
to spend at
least a few seconds observing each one, rather than just saying, "I saw it -
next!".
Downtown Virgo was confusing, as usual. O'Meara recommends starting
at M58.
I found M100 to be a somewhat better choice as it is quite isolated, by
Downtown Virgo
standards. I think Markarian's Chain would have been even better, because
it's starting
point (M84, M86, the other point of the equilateral triangle, the center
spot, and the Eyes)
is quite familiar and distinctive. Note: the new Uranometria identifies
those two galaxies
as The Eyes, as well as giving them their NGC numbers.
Before the action started, a family came over, and I showed them
Jupiter and
Saturn. There was a shadow transit on Jupiter, with all 4 moons lined up on
one side.
The seeing was good enough to make Saturn worth an ooh-aah from us
experienced sky-gazers,
so both planets blew the visitors away. One of the kids kept yelling "Come
here! You
gotta see this!". Moments like this are one of the satisfying things about
our hobby.
However, it was an unfortunate commentary on the state of science education
that none of
them were sure if it was Jupiter or Saturn which had the gaudy rings, nor
which one was
farther out. At least they knew there was a 'farther out'! Mom asked some
good questions,
like what the stars are and, after being told that our sun is one, whether
any had planets.
Good for her!
In addition to M-objects, I went for Vesta, presently cruising
through Virgo. The
S&T chart linked to by one of the TACos showed Vesta near 4578, a (surprise)
galaxy. Vesta
was much brighter than any star in the area, and was definitely where
Uranometria showed no
stars anywhere near as bright. This was a two-fer for me as I had not
previously logged
the galaxy, which was within a 125x FOV of Vesta.
During a break in Messier Madness, I hit Libra, which was probably
not the best
choice in the scummy sky conditions. I did log two new objects. One was
PK342+27.1, a tiny
PN. This PN showed distinctly blue, and was quite close to an orange star,
so it was almost
like a cross between a double star observation and a regular PN. The other
was 5728, an
unremarkable-looking galaxy.
Transparency pretty much sucked the whole time, with clouds coming
in and out. In a
sense, this was a good night for MM'ing, as these objects can usually shine
through such
conditions, while dimmer targets fade out. The seeing was good enough to
make OCs and globs
worth more than a quick glance.
It was a nice, small crowd after the boaters cleared out. There
were only three of
us, plus a pair of Russians who were off by themselves and didn't make
contact. I suppose
I should have been polite and at least greeted them with a "zdratsvooitye",
though that's
about the extent of my Russian.
While I didn't do much Serious Observing, I saw more objects in the
one night than I
usually do in three, and I had fun doing so, which is the whole point. Not
bad for a cloudy
night!
mam