CCD MESSIER MARATHON The Messier Marathon is generally held during late March / early April when the Sun lies in a part of the zodiac devoid of Messier objects. In these dates it is theoretical possible to see all the objects that Charles Messier listed. One obvious problem is that the Moon is going to interfere with the night in question. The Moon is in a favourable position once every three years. Capturing the whole Messier Catalogue with a CCD camera during a single night is an interesting challenge. In 20/21 March 2004 I tried to image all the Messier objects using a Takahashi FS102 Apochromatic refractor at F/6 (reducer/corrector) and a SBIG ST-8E CCD camera. Total integration times varied from 45s to 6min. A total of 95 Messier objects were imaged (see list below). Several objects were impossible to record (beginning and end of the imaging session) due to several problems (evening and morning twilight, some objects were behind trees or the observatory roof...). Imaging Setup Takahashi FS102 F/6 (reducer/corrector) + SBIG ST-8E Imaging Setup The list below was compiled using work of Don Machholz "Messier Marathon Observer's Guide". There is a link for each object imaged during the CCD Messier Marathon (20040320/21) No. M# NGC# Con Type My# Time Comments 1. M77 1068 Cet G S Missed 2. M74 628 Psc G S Missed 3. M33 598 Tri G S Missed 4. M31 224 And G S Missed 5. M32 221 And G E Missed 6. M110 205 And G E Missed 7. M52 7654 Cas OCl Missed 8. M103 581 Cas OCl Missed 9. M76 650 Per Pl Missed 10. M34 1039 Per OCl 1 19:36UTC Integration time 3x1min 11. M45 - Tau OCl 2 19:45UTC Integration time 3x15s 12. M79 1904 Lep Gl 3 19:55UTC Integration time 3x1min 13. M42 1976 ori DN 4 20:04UTC Integration time 3x1min 14. M43 1982 Ori DN 4 20:04UTC Integration time 3x1min 15. M78 2068 Ori DN 5 20:23UTC Integration time 3x1min 21. M41 2287 CMa OCl 6 20:41UTC Integration time 3x1min 16. M1 1952 Tau SNR 7 20:40UTC Integration time 5x1min 17. M35 2168 Gem OCl 8 20:52UTC Integration time 3x1min 18. M37 2099 Aur OCl 9 21:02UTC Integration time 3x1min 19. M36 1960 Aur OCl 10 21:10UTC Integration time 3x1min 20. M38 1922 Aur OCl 11 21:18UTC Integartion time 3x1min 21. M93 2447 Pup OCl 12 21:34UTC Integration time 3x1min 23. M47 2422 Pup OCl 13 21:38UTC Integration time 3x1min 24. M46 2437 Pup OCl 14 21:42UTC Integration time 3x1min 25. M50 2323 Mon OCl 15 21:49UTC Integration time 3x1min 26. M48 2548 Hya OCl 16 21:56UTC Integration time 3x1min 27. M44 2632 Cnc OCl 17 22:03UTC Integration time 3x1min 28. M67 2628 Cnc OCl 18 22:11UTC Integration time 3x1min 29. M95 3351 Leo G S 19 22:22UTC Integration time 3x2min 30. M96 3368 Leo G S 19 22:22UTC Integration time 3x2min 31. M105 3379 Leo G E 20 22:38UTC Integration time 3x2min 32. M65 3623 Leo G S 21 22:46UTC Integration time 3x2min 33. M66 3627 Leo G S 21 22:46UTC Integration time 3x2min 34. M81 3031 UMa G S 22 23:01UTC Integration time 3x2min 35. M82 3034 UMa GIr 22 23:01UTC Integration time 3x2min 36. M97 3587 UMa Pl 23 23:22UTC Integration time 2x2min 37. M108 3556 UMa G S 24 23:20UTC Integration time 2x2min 38. M109 3992 UMa G S 25 23:27UTC Integration time 3x1min 39. M40 - UMa 2St 26 23:27UTC Integration time 1min 40. M106 4258 CVn G S 27 23:41UTC Integration time 3x1min 41. M94 4736 CVn G S 28 23:47UTC Integration time 3x1min 42. M63 5055 CVn G S 29 23:56UTC Integration time 3x1min 43. M51 5194 CVn G S 30 00:04UTC Integration time 3x1min 44. M101 5457 UMa G S 31 00:12UTC Integration time 3x1min 45. M102? 5866 Dra GS0 32 00:19UTC Integration time 3x1min 46. M53 5024 Com Gl 33 00:27UTC Integration time 3x1min 47. M64 4826 Com G S 34 00:36UTC Integration time 3x1min 48. M3 5272 CVn Gl 35 00:45UTC Integration time 3x1min 49. M98 4192 Com G S 36 00:54UTC Integration time 3x1min 50. M99 4254 Com G S 37 01:12UTC Integration time 3x1min 51. M100 4321 Com G S 38 01:13UTC Integration time 3x1min 52. M85 4382 Com GS0 39 01:20UTC Integration time 3x1min 53. M84 4374 Vir GS0 40 01:28UTC Integration time 5x1min 54. M86 4406 Vir GS0 40 01:28UTC Integration time 5x1min 55. M87 4486 Vir G E 41 01:40UTC Integration time 3x1min 56. M89 4552 Vir G E 42 01:48UTC Integration time 3x1min 57. M90 4569 Vir G S 43 01:57UTC Integration time 3x1min 58. M88 4501 Com G S 44 02:04UTC Integration time 3x1min 59. M91 4548 Com G S 45 02:12UTC Integration time 3x1min 60. M58 4579 Vir G S 46 02:20UTC Integration time 3x1min 61. M59 4621 Vir G E 47 02:27UTC Integration time 3x1min 62. M60 4649 Vir G E 47 02:27UTC Integration time 3x1min 63. M49 4472 Vir G E 48 02:37UTC Integration time 3x1min 64. M61 4303 Vir G S 49 02:45UTC Integration time 3x1min 65. M104 4594 Vir G S 50 02:53UTC Integration time 3x1min 66. M68 4590 Hya Gl 51 03:01UTC Integration time 3x1min 67. M83 5236 Hya G S 53 03:018UTC Integration time 3x1min 68. M5 5904 Ser Gl 52 03:10UTC Integration time 3x1min 69. M13 6205 Her Gl 54 03:26UTC Integration time 3x1min 70. M92 6341 Her Gl 55 03:44UTC Integration time 3x1min 71. M57 6720 Lyr Pl 56 03:54UTC Integration time 1min 72. M56 6779 Lyr Gl 57 03:57UTC Integration time 1min 73. M29 6913 Cyg OCl 58 04:00UTC Integration time 1min 74. M39 7092 Cyg OCl 59 04:03UTC Integration time 1min 75. M27 6853 Vul Pl 60 04:06UTC Integration time 1min 76. M71 6838 Sge Gl 61 04:12UTC Integration time 1min 77. M107 6171 Oph Gl 62 04:15UTC Integration time 1min 78. M12 6218 Oph Gl 63 04:18UTC Integration time 1min 79. M10 6254 Oph Gl 64 04:21UTC Integration time 1min 80. M14 6402 Oph Gl 65 04:25UTC Integration time 1min 81. M9 6333 Oph Gl 66 04:27UTC Integration time 1min 82. M4 6121 Sco Gl 67 04:30UTC Integration time 1min 83. M80 6093 Sco Gl 68 04:34UTC Integration time 1min 84. M19 6273 Oph Gl 69 04:37UTC Integration time 1min 85. M62 6266 Oph Gl 70 04:40UTC Integration time 1min 86. M6 6405 Sco OCl 71 0:43UTC Integration time 1min 87. M7 6475 Sco OCl 72 04:45UTC Integration time 1min 88. M11 6705 Sct OCl 73 04:48UTC Integration time 1min 89. M26 6694 Sct OCl 74 04:52UTC Integration time 1min 90. M16 6611 Ser OCl 75 04:55UTC Integration time 1min 91. M17 6618 Sgr DN 76 04:59UTC Integration time 1min 92. M18 6613 Sgr OCl 77 05:02UTC Integration time 1min 93. M24 >6603 Sgr OCl 78 05:05UTC Integration time 1min 94. M25 I4725 Sgr OCl 79 05:08UTC Integration time 1min 95. M23 6494 Sgr OCl 80 05:11UTC Integration time 1min 96. M21 6531 Sgr OCl 81 05:16UTC Integration time 1min 97. M20 6514 Sgr DN 81 05:16UTC Integration time 1min 98. M8 6523 Sgr DN 82 05:18UTC Integration time 1min 99. M28 6626 Sgr Gl 83 05:22UTC Integration time 1min 100. M22 6656 Sgr Gl 84 05:25UTC Integration time 1min 101. M69 6637 Sgr Gl 85 05:27UTC Integration time 1min 102. M70 6681 Sgr Gl 86 05:31UTC Integration time 1min 103. M54 6715 Sgr Gl 87 05:33UTC Integration time 1min 104. M55 6809 Sgr Gl 88 05:36UTC Integration time 1min 105. M75 6864 Sgr Gl Missed 106. M15 7078 Peg Gl Missed 107. M2 7089 Aqr Gl Missed 108. M72 6981 Aqr Gl Missed 109. M73 6994 Aqr 4St Missed 110. M30 7099 Cap Gl Missed Key: No. : Don Machholz' sequence number M# : Messier number NGC# : NGC (or IC) number Con : Constellation (abbreviated) Type : Object Type (OCl=Open Cluster, Gl=Globular Cluster, Pl=Planetary Nebula, DN=Diffuse Nebula, G S=Spiral Galaxy, G E=Elliptical Galaxy, GIr=Irrgeular Galaxy, GS0=Lenticular (S0) Galaxy, SNR=SNR, 2St=Binary Star, 4St=4 Star System My# : My actual sequence number Time : My observing time (UTC) Comments: Any important observing circumstances/results, integration times etc. CCD Messier Marathon Poster (20040320/21) Takahashi FS102 F/6 + ST-8E Messier Poster (Whole Messier Catalogue) Takahashi FS102 + ST-7