The night of Saturday April 2nd and the morning of April 3rd was the Raleigh Astronomy Club’s Messier Marathon at Howell Woods. It went very well. Approximately 11 people attended for observing or to do the marathon.
Brian Reasor and Mike Keefe were the only 2 marathoners.
Brian accomplished a rather impressive feat, logging over 100 objects by star hopping alone.
I logged 102 objects using my Orion 12″ Dob and located objects by star hopping from Telrad finder charts. I missed M77, M74, M33, M76, M31, M32, M100 and M30. Virgo was well placed in the sky when I worked through it. In addition to the Messiers, I could see many of the fainter NGC companion galaxies that surround them and spent some time following Markarian’s Chain. -Brian R.
Mike had a big night and logged 107/ (108?) objects with his SCT using no GoTo but moved the scope to object coordinates. I bagged at least 107 objects (including NGC 5866 as the lost M102). I definitely missed the first two objects (M77 and M74) as the background sky was still too bright even as these objects disappeared into the trees. However the 3rd object, M33, I think I saw. Â I was in the correct spot according to the coordinates but all I could make out was more of a ghost image. So 107 or 108, take your pick -Mike K.
Others out were Steve G, Pat M, Jim P, John N, Jim D, Pierre F, Wayne R, Chris M and Greg B. Most folks stayed till after midnight. Pat M, Jim P and Pierre F were observing till 3 or so and caught some sleep before packing up with Brian and Mike after sunrise.
Sky conditions were clear but seeing was mediocre due to upper atmosphere winds. By sundown, ground level winds had died down to a light breeze. Temps were ok but it got into the 30’s after midnight and we picked up some frost. We got good use out of the Educational Building to warm-up and make some hot tea. Thanks to the club for obtaining access. Also, a big thanks to Brian Reasor for coordinating this event again this year.
Howell Woods is a great site. We hope to get back out there some more this year. More pictures are available at the RAC Gallery.