Hi all, I went to SPOC last night and attempted the Messier Marthon. I was even later than I expected (it was around 11pm by the time I had gotten set up). By 4am (after 60 or 70 objects and a while after everyone else had gone) I was so hammered that I decided to look at Mars for a while (I was having a much harder time than I should have finding globulars in Ophiuchus). Then my confounded cheap k-mart folding chair gave way. I was so tired and ticked off that I just packed up and went home. I might have stuck it out if there had been someone else there to chat with (I always mutter to myself when I do any viewing, but it's not the same). Part of the reason that I was so tired is that I got lost in Virgo and had to back track quite a bit (I whish that I had brought Uranometria with me, I was just using Sky and Telescope's Messier card). Also, I knew that I was in trouble when I was having a hard time finding M81 and M82 (turns out that I was trying to star hop from the wrong star). All in all, I had a good time. Greg __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
Greg, I might have joined you for part of the night (a marathon is definitely not my thing however) had I not been fighting off a new cold. Virgo is definitely not an easy star hop! But M81/82 is cake; for me, I simply "draw a line" between the bottom back and front lip stars of the big dipper's bowl, and extend it the same distance beyond the lip to the pair of galaxies; easy to spot in binoculars. Rich --- Greg Taylor <astronomus_maximus@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi all,
I went to SPOC last night and attempted the Messier Marthon. I was even later than I expected (it was around 11pm by the time I had gotten set up). By 4am (after 60 or 70 objects and a while after everyone else had gone) I was so hammered that I decided to look at Mars for a while (I was having a much harder time than I should have finding globulars in Ophiuchus). Then my confounded cheap k-mart folding chair gave way. I was so tired and ticked off that I just packed up and went home. I might have stuck it out if there had been someone else there to chat with (I always mutter to myself when I do any viewing, but it's not the same).
Part of the reason that I was so tired is that I got lost in Virgo and had to back track quite a bit (I whish that I had brought Uranometria with me, I was just using Sky and Telescope's Messier card). Also, I knew that I was in trouble when I was having a hard time finding M81 and M82 (turns out that I was trying to star hop from the wrong star).
All in all, I had a good time.
Greg
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
That's why I said that I knew that I was in trouble. M81/m82 are usually an easy find. Like I said, I was tired. The more tired I got, the harder time I had findings stuff which made me frustrated. The frustration made me even more tired...ad infinatum. So that when I decided to do Ursa Major, I could hardly tell which way was north, much less which star I was looking at. After I realized my mistake, I found M81/M82 in about five seconds. I really need to upgrade my setup. All of that kneeling down to look through the Telrad then standing up to look through the eyepiece nearly killed me off.
But M81/82 is cake;
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
Rich, Sorry if that last message sounded as though I were offended by your remark. I'm still somewhat annoyed that I had such a hard time finding M81/82 (until that sudden burst of inspiration made me realize that I was looking about 5 degrees from where they were). Greg __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
Greg You wrote: I wasjust using Sky and Telescope's Messier card). Was that in the March Issue? And, what page was it on? Thanks Jim Gibson Greg Taylor <astronomus_maximus@yahoo.com> wrote:Hi all, I went to SPOC last night and attempted the Messier Marthon. I was even later than I expected (it was around 11pm by the time I had gotten set up). By 4am (after 60 or 70 objects and a while after everyone else had gone) I was so hammered that I decided to look at Mars for a while (I was having a much harder time than I should have finding globulars in Ophiuchus). Then my confounded cheap k-mart folding chair gave way. I was so tired and ticked off that I just packed up and went home. I might have stuck it out if there had been someone else there to chat with (I always mutter to myself when I do any viewing, but it's not the same). Part of the reason that I was so tired is that I got lost in Virgo and had to back track quite a bit (I whish that I had brought Uranometria with me, I was just using Sky and Telescope's Messier card). Also, I knew that I was in trouble when I was having a hard time finding M81 and M82 (turns out that I was trying to star hop from the wrong star). All in all, I had a good time. Greg __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
I bought it directly from Sky Publishing. It is a rather nice laminated card. Greg --- Jim Gibson <xajax99@yahoo.com> wrote:
Greg You wrote: I wasjust using Sky and Telescope's Messier card). Was that in the March Issue? And, what page was it on? Thanks Jim Gibson Greg Taylor <astronomus_maximus@yahoo.com> wrote:Hi all,
I went to SPOC last night and attempted the Messier Marthon. I was even later than I expected (it was around 11pm by the time I had gotten set up). By 4am (after 60 or 70 objects and a while after everyone else had gone) I was so hammered that I decided to look at Mars for a while (I was having a much harder time than I should have finding globulars in Ophiuchus). Then my confounded cheap k-mart folding chair gave way. I was so tired and ticked off that I just packed up and went home. I might have stuck it out if there had been someone else there to chat with (I always mutter to myself when I do any viewing, but it's not the same).
Part of the reason that I was so tired is that I got lost in Virgo and had to back track quite a bit (I whish that I had brought Uranometria with me, I was just using Sky and Telescope's Messier card). Also, I knew that I was in trouble when I was having a hard time finding M81 and M82 (turns out that I was trying to star hop from the wrong star).
All in all, I had a good time.
Greg
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
--------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!>
_______________________________________________
Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
participants (3)
-
Greg Taylor -
Jim Gibson -
Richard Tenney