Messier Marathon
Charles Messier was the 18th century
"ferret of comets" who compiled the now-famous catalog that totals
about
110 objects. Some final additions were
made by 20th century researchers, and there's still contention about the
identity of M102 and the inclusion M110. Ironically, Messier's primary intention was to
tabulate these now-treasured objects so they could be avoided as distractions from the
primary pursuit of finding comets.
Astronomically, March is the best time of the year for a Messier Marathon in the northern hemisphere (although March weather in New Jersey can be a problem). In brief, the basic concept is to spot all of the objects on the list during a single night, although variations have been devised that may call for multiple nights, doing it with a limited instrument (such as binoculars) to make it more difficult, or for advanced observers, doing it from memory alone.
My best Marathon was in 2010, when new
moon was on Monday, March 15th at 5:01 pm EDT (goodness, more than a decade ago). Since the weather
forecast was excellent for Wednesday night, March
17-18th, I made a Marathon run at
Coyle Field in New Jersey. A total of 103 Messier objects
were found along with two comets;
here's a
tabulation. I failed to find M74 in the evening because it
was low in the west, and too dim against residual twilight and the
Philadelphia light dome towards that direction. In the morning, I failed to find M2, M30,
M55, M72, M73 and M75 because I "ran out of gas" around 5:15 am. M30
was
probably the only morning object that wasn't achievable had I persisted
a little longer (it simply rises too late in mid-March). There's also an hour span starting shortly
after midnight when I didn't find anything. That's because I was caught
up with the available Messier objects and was waiting for the next ones to rise a bit
higher, so I decided to look for Omega Centauri, which would
transit at a few degrees altitude. The latter effort was unsuccessful,
mainly because due south at Coyle Field is towards Atlantic City, NJ,
and its light dome. However, Coyle's low horizons were otherwise ideal for the
Marathon. Sadly, it's no longer accessible to
observers and it won't be in
the future (here's
a page covering my last session there on the night of April 5/6,
2016).
Left: The 12.5" f/5,
split-tube Discovery Dob
used for the 2010 Messier Marathon, shown at Coyle Field on October 7,
2015 (click the image for a larger version). As seen here, as well as for the 2010 Marathon, the scope is
strictly manual. The only pointing aid is a
Rigel QuikFinder reflex type, which projects a red bull's-eye on the
sky (concentric circles, 0.5° and 2.0° diameter). It's
the small, elongated box jutting from the upper-left of the tube.
For the 2022 Marathon, new moon is on Wednesday, March 2 at 12:35 am EST, so for most folks, the nights of Friday, March 4/5, or Saturday, March 5/6, will be the preferred nights. Daylight Savings Time begins the next weekend, on Sunday, March 13. Regardless, feel free to pick another night as one's schedule and the weather permit. Since new moon is at the beginning of the month for this year's Marathon, low-surface-brightness M74 in the west will be a little easier than usual (sets about 9:45 pm, more than an hour after the end of astronomical twilight), but M30 will be essentially impossible in the morning from our 40°N latitude, it rises after 6:00 am EST on March 5, less than half-an-hour before sunrise, so bright twilight will interfere significantly. The next new moon will be on Friday, April 1 at 2:24 am EDT. Postponing a month would make the initial evening objects more difficult, but M30 becomes a possibility.
As homage to Charles Messier, I try to include one or more comets when doing the Marathon. Luckily, we have two accessible comets now, 19P/Borrelly in Aries and C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) in Gemini. They'll probably be in the magnitude 9.x range, but I saw both of them on February 20, 2022, with my 115 mm (4.5 inch) apo spotting scope. For more comet information, check the Skyhound Comet Chasing page or COBS, the Comet Observation Database.
Update: On February
27, 2022, I made a
brief test run of the Marathon in the NJ Pines, mainly to see how well my
115 mm (4½
inch) spotting scope with no finder would work. Over the course of about
two hours, I found 37 objects using unaided eyes, 15x56 binoculars and
the 115 mm scope (mainly at 30x). In particular, I was particularly
interested in the low surface brightness galaxies (e.g., M74, M33 and
M110) as well as the two comets noted above. They were all seen, albeit,
they were faint. Some objects were ultimately seen with multiple
instruments besides the instrument with which they were first seen.
Here's my log sheet for the session (click for a larger version).
Here's a print-ready, blank PDF log sheet based on Harvard Pennington's sequence from his book, The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide, which is not only an excellent primer on the Messier Marathon itself, but also on the use of the geometric method for easily finding the objects manually. It's useful not just for the Marathon, but any time of the year searching for Messier objects, and ultimately, the method can be applied to any celestial object. The log sheet can also be used any time of the year. The sequence won't change, but the starting point will, and a changing block of objects will not be visible depending on the position of the sun. The publisher of the book, Willmann-Bell, ceased operation in 2020, but on August 16, 2021, the AAS announced its acquisition of Willmann-Bell's assets and their titles will be available at Sky & Telescope's online store.
While the sequence on the log provides a sensible plan of attack based on setting times in the beginning and then rise times later on, it needn't be followed slavishly. Note that on my 2010 log, eleven objects were seen out-of-order before the end of astronomical twilight by taking advantage of them being relatively bright (similarly so for the 2022 test run). I've also discovered that when there's trouble finding a given object, don't linger too long on it. Instead, move on to the next object or two, then come back a little later after clearing one's mind of the difficult object.
Finally, COVID-19 restrictions have been easing, so so it shouldn't be as difficult to find an suitable dark site this year. However, an upward surge in fuel prices might give pause to some regarding travel to a dark site. Good luck!