Fishing for Messiers

by Carl Larson


Ramblings from my Messier Marathon weekend 03/15-16/2002.

"This doesn't look good", I muttered to myself as the rain and tiny hailstones pelted the van windshield. I was just pulling out of the driveway on the way to Lake San Antonio for Messier Marathon weekend.

The cloudburst over my home quickly gave way to merely menacing clouds. I left early enough on Friday afternoon to miss the heavy traffic and by the time I passed into Dillon country the skies had become considerably less angry. If nothing else it would prove to be a beautiful drive through the heart of NoCal's breadbasket.

Alas, as I approached Lockwood under generally clear skies, there loomed a giant dark cloud above the lake. It was like a giant UFO saucer looming over the entire lake. As I gained the south entrance to LSA, as if on cue, the rains poured forth. I was reprieved from camping by generous souls who allowed me use of their cabin. So I put the telescope gear under the porch awning, hustled inside and turned on the furnace.

Amazingly, at about 6pm the skies cleared. I considered setting up by the boat ramp but since I figured I was alone and with the threat of rain I set up right next to the cabin. By 6:45pm I was ready to start the marathon.

Now, I had never previously attempted a MM and thought the idea was a bit contrived. But the enthusiasm for the MM on TAC and reading reports like Albert H's partial marathon last month led me to decide to give it a whirl. I was observing with my trusty 9.25" homemade newt on a classic pipe mount - the 19mm Nagler my ammo of choice.

Disaster from the start. While I was able to pick off M77 after a somewhat rusty start - M74 had dropped square into a tree across the way. While I did find a spot about 30' away where I would have had a chance to snag it I figured I only had about 15min before it dropped below the hill. It just was too much trouble to move the gear only to move it back. I moved on to easier pickins to overcome my disappointment. Hey, I know I can get 3 quick ones - M31,32,110 - then leisurely picking off the Cass open clusters. Oops, M33. I guess some thought goes into those lists of MM order after all - and it pays to think and plan ahead taking your surroundings into account. Now M33 was in another tree. Had I gone in order I would have had it. I moved down the driveway and picked it up with binos - I don't know if it "counts" to use multiple pieces of equipment to run a MM. I assumed the idea is to use one instrument.

Clouds would occasionally invade from the west and north. Transparency was quite variable. As it approached 10pm I felt like I was fighting a losing battle and gave up. Only 15 M objects logged. I was humbled on multiple fronts.

Saturday was overcast all day long and I was resigned to a night of reading indoors. Amazingly it cleared just as the sun went below my western ridge. I quickly set up in the "front yard" of the cabin. Less stray light from other cabins and no chance for car headlights - and - away from that tree. But, I miscalculated again. This time the porch awning kept me from both M77 and M74 at the very start. Right when I realized my mistake I could hear a loud voice from the porch of the next cabin over bemoaning the fact that he had come "all this way" to not catch a single fish in two days (this is a paraphrase - his actual quote is not appropriate for TAC:). It struck me that I was on an expedition too - fishing for M objects - and despite my errors and the clouds I was having much more fun than my neighbor.

This was by far better than the previous night. Colder too. Crystal clear and 35F at 10:30pm. This time, after skipping the first two objects I followed the order I had printed out. I took frequent breaks for hot coffee and to warm up inside not rushing the pace. It was a pleasure to visit old friends not observed in a long time, even if only for a few moments before heading back to the charts. Right around midnight I was finding M3 getting ready for the assault of Coma B. when the bottom dropped out. It was like a giant iris was closing up the sky from all sides. Mag 6 skies to pretty much zip in maybe 10 minutes. I waited to see what would happen but gave up after half and hour. While it would clear in some areas I didn't feel like chasing sucker holes for the rest of the night. The final tally was 44 of the first 46 M objects in the list I had.

I was awakened at 6am to the sound of powerboats on the lake. I looked out the window to see the boats being released in a staggered start - each boat going a different direction. It must have been some kind of a fishing competition with each boat heading off to the cove they felt held the most promise. Reminded me of Taco's heading off for observing each with a favorite site for given conditions all in hopes of the sometimes elusive "catch". I chanced LSA and mostly came up lucky despite not coming close to finishing the MM. Next time, next time. I'm hooked on the marathon.