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New Years Eve 1997: Mini-Messier Marathon

6:00-6:45pm Tried unsucessfully to see M2 in Aquarius and M30 near Capricornus. A slim crescent moon and the horizon were washing out too many stars for me to get my bearings in Capricorn and Aquarius. Finally gave up on M30 [must've lost it in the horizon]. Quickly found M15 in Pegasus, a small fuzz ball [a medium fuzz ball with the Nagler 7mm]. Finally found a current star chart and used Jupiter's position to find M2 which was even smaller than M15 [I think]. Tried to change to the 7mm but the focuser was frozen [-10 C]. Stuck using the 28mm all night [low power 16x].

7:08pm After warming up with some herbal tea, I decide to walk straight up the Milky Way from the Western horizon starting with M27, the Dumbell Nebula, in Vulpecula. I found it to be a faint planetary nebula but I didn't realize it was the Dumbell Nebula at the time[gotta try again with 7mm sometime]. M57, the Ring Nebula, is at about the same position above the horizon a little farther north. I decide to skip it since it's hard to find (9th mag.) and disappointing in a 4" scope.

7:15pm Another cup of herbal tea and then easily found M29. It's like a mini Pleiades [M45 - seen earlier]. Starting in Cygnus, found M39, a fairly large open cluster. So large that Aristotle is recorded as noticing it with the naked eye in 325 B.C....

7:22pm More tea. Noticed Orion rising high above the tree line. The sky seems to be moving pretty fast. Found M52 in Cassiopeia: pretty boring, so I switched to M31: the Andromeda Galaxy in the Andromeda constellation. Neat! One of my favorites. If I divert my eyes I can usually detect it without scope or binoculars. Not bad for an object 2,500,000 light years away. :-)

7:35pm Had trouble finding M33, the Pinwheel Galaxy, in Triangulum. It was very faint. Incidently, I have seen three satellites pass in front on my eyes while searching for various deep space objects tonight. I double checked M52 because it was so small. I guess that's it. The Great Orion nebula [M42] is looking good against a nice black sky tonight. I took a second look at The Double Cluster NGC 884 & NGC 869 in Perseus. Neat! I noticed Vega has begun to sparkle a pretty blue as it dips into the horizon's glare.

7:50pm Found M34 - a nice open cluster in Perseus [a constellation I never bothered with much]. Boom! Boom! Boom! M38, M36 and M37 are easily spotted and picked off all in a row in the Auriga constellation. Thoroughly frozen. I put on 10 cups of Cranberry Cove herbal tea.

When will I stop tonight? Most of the cool stuff will be in Sagitarius which won't rise until several hours after sunrise. So, since I can't do a complete Messier Marathon I pick M3 as a stopping point. I think it rises about 1:00am. Good stopping point. Nothing much left to see until about 3:30am when Hercules comes up with two more - not worth the wait [me thinks]. So M3 it is.

8:20pm M35: another nice open cluster. It's either getting too cold or my tolerance for the cold is dropping. I can't seem to get warm anymore. [Check temp] It's me. Although -10 C is pretty cold. The scope is becoming frosted over. Images are still fairly clear though.

8:27pm Found NGC2244 in Monoceros. I've never tried to identify the Monoceros constellation before. Pretty neat. I noticed some nebulosity but I didn't realize I was also looking at the Rosetta Nebula [NGC2237-39]. I tried to get M81 & M82 [I have before] but the scope it getting really frosted. Oops! I tried to move to a better location and found that the tripod is frozen stuck in the mud/ice. I think I'll warm myself and the scope for an hour or so.

Had some StarBuck's decaf coffee I kept from a hotel stay. Yuk. The mirror in the scope is still fogged and I can't find Cancer and M44: The Beehive. I can usually detect M44 without a scope. I'm getting tired. Maybe I should've had regular coffee.

10:55pm The scope's unfogged, the sky has changed and I'm ready to get some more. Hit M41 in Canis Major on the first try! Nice big open cluster. Need to watch for a Red Giant star in the center next time. M93 was pretty easy too. Also a large open cluster [although sparsely populated]. Went in to get gloves. Extremely cold!!

11:07pm Can't seem to locate M81 & M82 and, quite frankly, I'm sick of trying! The lens is trying to frost up again already and I can't keep my hands warm. Too bad! I was going after M46, M47, M48, M50, and M67 too.

Not a bad dry run, though. I'll get a 15mm before March and try a real Messier Marathon then!


Happy New Year!

P.S. The next day Kyle was born!

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