Messier Marathons

[Moonshine]

There is an article in the latest "Astronomy" mag about this being a good time of year for a Messier marathon - an event where folk get together and try to see all 109 M objects in one night. It is, of course, a northern hemisphere publication. Does any group in Aus do these marathons, and if so what time of year is best? I wasn't sure where to put this post - moderators pls feel free to move it to newbie section or star party section

Don

[Starkler]

Don the best time of year to see an object from the northern hemispshere will be the same from the south.

As your post is definately about observing, I would say its in the right place :)

[mickoking]

Maybe us southerners can do a Bennet catalogue marathon?

[RapidEye]

What makes this a good time for the marathon is because there are no M's close to the sun. Unless you guys have a different sun down under, this is the best time for you too =-) Having said that, there are quite a few far northern ones that are probably hard for you at anytime of the year. I'm planning on going up to a lodge in the western Virginia mountains to make a run at it this year - <FINGERS CROSSED> hope the weather works out!!!

[Cronulla_Chris]

The big difference between the hemispheres is what is often called "the seasons". the dec-jan period is when we have long hours of daylight and long periods of twilight. There are lots of lists for northern hemisphere folk telling the best orer to do a messier marathon, but just try it for a southern location such as Sydney. Stellarium is perfect for this demo. you soon see that a marathon in dec or jan just won't work.

[JethroB76]

I think the ASV do their Messier party in March..though I think that maybe only 100 M's are gettable from their dark site in Victoria

[saberscorpx]

I'd be jazzed to attempt March's Marathon from down under.
Close to half of Chuck's best are at or below zero declination.
And except for the 8 targets not available from -35°, a majority
reach more favorable viewing altitudes than those available to
many northern competitors.

Wouldn't mind the warmer weather, either.


SJS

[AJames]

Too right. Mr. Messier might have been the "Ferret From France", but for southern observers much of it is irrelevant if it doesn't include the best deep-sky objects visible to the Antipodean observer.
Personally I think the Bennett list is impossible to do, as you cannot observe all of them on one night at anytime during the year. My suggestion is to do a Messier Marathon, but replace the 8 missing deep-sky objects with southern ones.
For this I would include adding the following 24 bright southern objects instead, and deleting the various Messier objects north of +45 declination as;

NGC 104 / 47 Tucanae
NGC 253 / The Silver Coin Galaxy Sculptor
NGC 292 / Small Magellanic Cloud
NGC 300 Sculptor
NGC 2070 / The Tarantula Nebula

NGC 2451 Open Cluster Puppis
NGC 2516 Car
IC 2602 / Southern Pleiades Car
NGC 3114 Car
NGC 3132 Vela

IC 2391 Omicron Velorum Cluster Vel
NGC 3195 / The Grey Planetary Chameleon
NGC 3372 / Eta Carinae Nebula
NGC 3532 Car
NGC 3293 Car

NGC 3918 The Blue Planetary Cen
NGC 4755 Cru The Jewel Box
NGC 4833 Musca Globular
NGC 5128 Centaurus A : Cen
NGC 5139 Omega Centauri

NGC 5189 The Spiral Planetary
NGC 6231 Open Cluster Scorpius
NGC 6752 The Pavo Globular
NGC 6744 Galaxy in Pavo

Andrew