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• Historical Messier Marathon Results (before 1990)
• 1990 Results
• 1991 Results
• 1992 Results
• 1993 Results
• 1994 Results
• 1995 Results
• 1996 Results
• 1997 Results
• 1998 Results
• 1999 Results
• 2000 Results
• 2001 Results
• 2002 Results
• 2003 Results
• 2004 Results
• 2005 Results
• 2006 Results
• 2007 Results
• 2008 Results
• 2009 Results
• 2010 Results
• 2011 Results
• 2012 Results
• 2013 Results
• 2014 Results
• 2015 Results
• 2016 Results
• 2017 Results
• 2018 Results
• 2019 Results
• 2020 Results
• 2021 Results
• 2022 Results
• 2023 Results
• 2024 Results
• 2025 Results
• 2026 Messier Marathon
• 2026 Results
• Messier Marathon Eternal Hall of Fame: All reported results with full success of 110 observed Messier objects
• All Reported Messier Marathon Results Table
• A.J. Crayon's Analysis of Messier Marathons, as of April 27, 2015 -A.J.'s First Posting as of 2011

In 1976,Tom Hoffelder andTom Reiland of Pittsburgh, PA, noticed that it would be possible to observe most, if not all Messier objects in one night around the first day of spring (March 21) each year. They decided to try it in 1977. That year, both of them did (though Tom Hoffelder had moved to Akron, OH), and alsoEd Flynn of Pittsburgh did a marathon (which was probably the first ever). Tom Hoffelder notifiedWalter Scott Houston ofSky & Telescope who published thestory in March 1979 (when Tom had already moved again to Florida).Don Machholz states to have realized the possibility even in the late 1960s, but did not begin further investigation until 1978.Eventually,Gerry Rattley was the first marathoner to log all 110Messier objects in the night of March 23/24, 1985 from Dugas, Arizona.

• Ed Flynn of Pittsburgh, PA logged 98 Messier objects on March 24/25, 1977 with a 6" f/8 reflector.
• Tom Hoffelder logged 101 on March 25/26, 1977 from Akron, OH with a 10-inch f/5.6 reflector
• Tom Reiland of Pittsburgh, PA logged 103 on April 11/12, 1977 (6" f/6 reflector)

• Ed Flynn of Pittsburgh, PA logged 102 on March 10/11, 1978 (10" f/5.6)

• Don Machholz logged 107 (all but M74, M110, and M30) on the weekend of March 23/24, 1979, from Poma Prieta near San Jose, California (in a SJAA event) with a 10" f/3.8 reflector - the first score of more than 103.Jack Zeiders logged 101 on the same event (10" f/5).
• Tom Reiland of Pittsburgh, PA logged 107 (all but M74, M77, and M30) on March 27/28, 1979, with a 6" f/6 reflector.
• John Bartels of Suisun, CA logged 104 on March 29/30, 1979 with an 80mm f/6.3 refractor.
• Don Machholz andGerry Rattley both logged 108 (all but M74 and M33) on March 30/31, 1979 from Loma Prieta, California - Don Machholz used a 10" f/3.8 and Gerry Rattley a 10" f/5.7 reflector.

• Don Machholz logged 109 Messier objects (all but M30) on March 12/13, 1980. from Loma Prieta, CA with a 10" f/3.8 reflector. This was the first recorded viewing of 109 Messier objects.
• Brent Archinal observed 107 Messier objects (missing M55, M72 and M30) in the night of March 15/16, 1980 from Delaware, Ohio with a 32" f/16 Cassegrain telescope.
• Ed Flynn logged 109 objects (all but M30) in the same night of March 15/16, 1980 from Pittsburgh, PA with a 10-inch f/5.6 reflector.
• Tom Reiland of Pittsburgh, PA logged 109 objects (all but M30) on March 15/16, 1980 with a 6-inch f/6.
• Don Machholz andKen Wilson of the SJAA logged 109 (all but M30) on March 15/16, 1980 from Loma Prieta, CA; Don used a 10" f/3.8 and Ken an 8" f/6 reflecting telescope.
• Also on March 15/16, 1980,Rick Balbridge of Los Altos, CA logged 108 Messier objects with a 16.5-inch reflector, missing only M74 and M30.
• John Bartels observed 107 Messier objects from Copay, CA with an 80-mm f/6.3 refractor on March 16/17, 1980 (missing M72, M73 and M30).

• Wally Brown andBob Bruckner attempted an early Messier Marathon in the night of February 6/7, 1981 from New River, Arizona. Wally Brown observed 102 Messier objects with an 8-inch f/10 SC telescope, while Bob Bruckner hunted down 101 objects with a 5-inch f/5 refractor.
• Don Machholz observed 109 Messier objects (all but M30) during a Messier Marathon on March 5/6, 1981 from Loma Prieta, California with his 10-inch f/3.8 reflector.
• In his second Messier Marathon of that year,Wally Brown observed 104 Messier objects on March 29/30, 1981 from New River, Arizona, with his 8-inch f/10 SC telescope.
• In his second attempt of that year on April 3/4, 1981,Don Machholz hunted down 107 Messier objects (missing M77, M74 and M30) again with his 10-inch f/3.8 reflector from Loma Prieta, CA. This event, he turned into a Massive Marathon and observed a total of 599 deepsky objects!
• TheSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) held theirfirst Messier Marathon on April 4-5, 1981 in New River, Arizona. This was the first greater Messier Marathon event recorded.Paul Maxson observed 108 (missing M74 and M77),Greg Askins,Wally Brown (his third attempt of 1981),Bob Buckner (second 1981 attempt) andGeorge Kohl 107 each (missing also M33), andRon Caciola found 103.
• In addition, the SAC held theirfirst Messier Plus Marathon (75 Ms, 34 NGCs, and Brocchi's Cluster, Collinder 399) on September 26, 1981 at New River, Arizona (we havemore info on Messier Plus Marathon).
• Brent Archinal of Delaware, OH observed 33 objects, M2 to M34, in an 11x80 binocular marathon on July 30-31, 1981. He observed them in their numeric order.

• In a Messier Marathon attempt on March 20/21, 1982,Don Machholz hunted down 70 Messier objects from Loma Prieta, CA with his 10" f/3.8 reflector; then clouds interferred.
• Phil Harrington logged 107 Messier objects on his first Messier Marathon on March 27-28, 1982 from Westport, CT with an 8-inch reflector, missing M74, M77, and M30.
• TheSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC)'ssecond Messier Marathon was held on March 27/28 at Dugas, Arizona, but clouded out at the end -Wally Brown bagged 103.
• TheSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) held their secondMessier Plus Marathon on September 18, 1982.

• The1983Saguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) Messier Marathon was held on March 12/13 at Dugas, Arizona. Four observers, namelyWally Brown,Ron Caciola,Ron Hatcher, andGerry Rattley got 109, and four more got over 100:Grant Klassen (108),Jim Glass (107),Tom McGrath (106) andRoland Scharer (102).
• David Levy logged 109 Messier objects (all but M30) on March 15/16, 1983 from Tucson, Arizona, with his 40-cm scope, as documented in his book,The Sky: A User's Guide (p. 222-225).
• Don Machholz undertook a Messier Marathon attempt at the unusual date of July 9/10, 1983, from Loma Prieta, CA, with his 10-inch f/3.8 reflector, and hunted down 96 Messier objects (missing M42, M43, M78, M50, M79, M47, M46, M48, M41, M93, M44, M67, M1, and M35).

• Only 3 days after Full Moon, on March 19/20, 1984,Don Machholz undertook a Messier Marathon from Loma Prieta, CA with his 10-inch f/3.8 Newtonian reflector, and logged 109 objects (all but M30).
• Phil Harrington hunted down 103 Messier objects during a Messier Marathon held March 31/April 1, 1984 at Southold, NY, using a 13.1-inch reflector.
• In a late Messier Marathon held on April 28/29, 1984 at Anza, California,Milt Henderson scored 105 (missing M77, M74, M33, M34 and M79),Chuck Edwards found 104 (missing also M45), andCharlie Oostdyk observed 100 Messier objects (missing M76, M31, M32, M110 in addition). Milt used an 8" f/10 SC, Chuck a 10" f/5.5 Newtonian, and Charlie a 14" f/11 SC telescope.

• Don Machholz undertook two Messier marathon attempts in 1985, from Loma Prieta, California. The first one took place on March 15/16, when he observed 92 Messier objects with a 10-inch f/3.8 reflector and 77 with a 20x80 binoculars before clouds interferred. His second attempt was successful: He observed 109 Messier objects (all but M30) in the 10-inch and 107 in the binoculars (missing also M74 and M110). On the second occasion, he was accompanied byRich Page who also observed 109 objects (missing M30) with a 5-inch f/5 refrector.
• (drums !)Gerry Rattley logged all 110 Messier objects for the first time from Dugas, AZ, on March 23/24, 1985, with his 10-inch f/5.7 Newton, during the1985Saguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) Messier Marathon. Congratulations ! On this event, four more observers got over 100:Dan Ward (109),Wally Brown andPaul Lind (108 each) andShane Fortune (107).
• (drums again!)Rick Hull also logged all 110 Messier objects in the same night of March 23/24, 1985 [but about one hour later as M30 rises later in more western California], with a 10-inch f/20 Cassegrain from Anza, California. He was assisted by Bob Hoover. During the same event ant Anza, four more amateurs observed more than 100 Messier objects:Dave Radosevich found 109 (missing only M74), as didJim Hannum (missing M30), whileKenneth Adler observed 106, andDavid Bird logged 103. (Thanks to D. Lynn and Don Machholz for contributing this outstanding news!)
• Also in the same night of March 23/24, 1985,Jim McGaha logged 109 Messier objects (all but M30) from Tucson, Arizona with a 16-inch f/4.5 Newtonian reflector.
• On night later, on March 24/25, 1985, Tucson, Arizona amateur astronomersTim Hunter andJim McGaha hunted down 109 Messier objects, missing only M30, Tim Hunter using a 16-inch f/5.5, Jim McGaha a 12.5-inch f/5 Newtonian reflector.

• Tom Hoffelder and his wife,Lynn Hoffelder, logged 106 objects on March 8-9, 1986 with a 6" f/10 refractor from Palm Beach, FL, missing M2, M72, M73, and M30 (this night, they also observed comet Halley with a 5 deg tail !)

• Don Machholz attempted two Messier Marathons in 1988: The first seesion took place on March 11/12, 1988 at Uvas Res., CA, when he found 86 objects with his 10-inch f/3.8 Newtonian before interferring clouds ended this attempt. In his second run on March 18/19, 1988 from Loma Prieta, CA, he hunted down 109 objects (all but M30).
• Tom Hoffelder also tried it two times in 1988, from Oklahoma City with an 8" f/6 telescope, and logged 104 objects on March 12-13, and 109 (all but M30 which he didn't try) on March 18-19, 1988 In the second run, he was accompanied byFrank Phipps who also found 109 objects (all but M30) with a 6" f/10 refractor.
• Tim Hunter andDan Knauss undertook the first-ever reportedPhotographic Messier Marathon in the night of March 19-20, 1988 from their Grasslands Observatory in Southeastern Arizona. With their 24-inch f/5 Newtonian, an Olympus OM-1 and hypersensitized Konica SR-V 3200 film they managed to photograph 84 Messier objects (clearly recognizable on the negatives), plus 19 NGC and IC objects. See their report and photo album!
• Phil Harrington bagged 91 Messier objects with a 13.1-inch reflector during a marathon on March 19/20, 1988 from Southold, NY. He made it about 2:30 AM, when clouds came through and obscured the sky for the rest of the night.
• TheCharlotte Amateur Astronomers, Union Co., North Carolina, run a Messier Marathon on March 19/20, 1988 with various instruments. Members found all 110 Messier objects (see Astronomy 11/1988; thanks to Don Machholz for communicating).
• Amateur astronomers at Palmdale, California had a successful Messier Marathon event on March 19/20, 1988.David Goldwater andMartin Puskas observed all 110 Messier objects,Jim Brunkella found 109, andLarry Martinson andMartin Hale hunted down 108 each (VCAS4/88).

• Tom Hoffelder logged 104 objects from Oklahoma City on March 31/April 1, 1989, with his 8" f/6 reflector.

• Phil Harrington observed 69 Messier objects with a 13.1-inch reflector when attempting a Messier Marathon from Westport, CT on March 23/24, 1990. He suffered from poor showing due to clouds around midnight and only made it through to about Hercules.
• Don Machholz ran two attempts in 1990 with his 10" f/3.8 Newton: The first, on March 24/25, from Henry Coe Park, CA ended prematurely after logging 67 objects when clouds and fog interferred. In his second marathon of that year, on March 30/31, Don hunted down 109 objects (all but M74) from Loma Prieta, CA.

• Phil Harrington had his personally best Messier Marathon on March 16/17 from Southold, NY. He hunted down 109 Messier objects with his 13.1-inch reflector (all but M30 which was impossible at his latitude at this time), and verified 101 of them with an 11x80 binoculars before the objective lenses fogged/frosted over.

• A group of German astronomers from theVolkssternwarte Hagen, led byDirk Panczyk, undertook a Messier hunt on February 28-29, 1992 from a location in Sauerland, and bagged 78 Messier objects, losing especially many of the southern objects around Sagittarius, due to hazy horizon conditions (a report of this marathon was published in the GermanSterne und Weltraum of January 1993).
• Phil Harrington managed to find 102 Messier objects on the occasion of a marathon hold on April 4/5, 1992 from Westport, CT. He participated in the Westport Astronomical Society's Messier Marathon and used their 12.5-inch reflector at Rolnick Observatory, together with various club members on a rotating basis.
• David Stine of the TUVA Astronomy Club logged 98 Messier Objects.

• Amateurs from Nuremberg, Germany hold a Messier Marathon on March 19-20, 1993 at their Wetterberg observing station and obtained the following results:Ronald Stoyan (120mm f/8.5 Refractor): 103,Thomas Jaeger (317mm f/5 Newton/Dobson): 101,Klaus Veit (200mm f/6 Newton/Dobson; 2 hours late): 98.
• The1993 All-Arizona Messier Marathon took place on March 20/21, 1993, under less favorable weather conditions.Paul Lind, in the first place, managed 94 objects with his 8-inch f/4.5 Newton, seven observers caught 50+.
• Don Machholz had a successful Messier Marathon in 1993 from Colfax, California, on March 20/21, he hunted down 109 Messier objects (all but M30) with a 6-inch Newtonian.
• On March 21-22, 1993, a Messier Marathon was held at the Centro de Observacao Astronomica no Algarve (COAA), Poio, 8500 Portimao, Portugal, led by British amateurPaul Money, logged the complete set of 109 objects they had looked for (their list did not include controverseM102).
• Marc Chouinard of the TUVA Astronomy Club logged 95 Messier Objects.

• Don Machholz undertook a Messier Marathon attempt from Colfax, CA on March 18/19, 1994 with a 6-inch Newtonian. After hunting down 82 objects, interferring clouds ended this attempt.
• In March 1994, led by Paul Money, a Messier Marathon was hold at theCOAA, Algarve, Portugal; a total of 99 objects was logged.
• The1994 All-Arizona Messier Marathon was held late for Marathon season: April 9, 1994. Weather conditions were good, and four observers bagged 107 objects, a total of ten 100+.

• in the night of March 24/25, 1995,Don Machholz ran a Messier Marathon and observed 108 Messier objects (missing only M74 in the evening and M30 in the morning), with a 6-inch Newtonian from Colfax, CA.
• Peter Nicholl hunted down about 60 objects on his first attempt, which ended at 2 am, however, asreported in his March 1997 observing report
• In March 1995, amateurs led by Paul Money held a Marathon at theCOAA, Algarve, Portugal.
• The1995 All-Arizona Messier Marathon was held lately, in the night of April 1-2, at Arizona City, AZ. Weather was severely clear, except for one early evening hour. 58 scopes attended, and 26 forms turned in, 30 observers participating (52% participation). There was a new record of 22 observers with 100+ ! 3 observers scored best, each of them with 107 hits:Adam Block withStephanie Garko, andPaul Lind. They all missed the early evening objects M77, M74, and M33. On this event, M77 was only seen byStephen Alden andJanna Scott (who logged 106), while M74 and M33 were missed by all observers. Congratulations for these good results !
• James Liley of the TUVA Astronomy Club logged 99 Messier Objects.

• Tony Cecce logged 101 objects on March 15-16 with a 8" F7 Coulter dobsonian (one of the last of these instuments). He posted his report to the ASTRO mailing list, soit is here.
• Wesley Stone scored 103 (all but M74, 30, 55, 70, 72, 73, 75); look at his 1996 Messier Marathon Results
• Shawn Clark hunted down 108 Messier objects (all but M74 and M30) on March 19-20, 1996 in his first Messier Marathon; congratulations for this high first-time talley ! Read hisobserving report !
• Phil Harrington has run his second best marathon this year. He picked off 107 of them (missing M30, M55, and M73) using his 18-inch reflector from a dark-sky site on eastern Long Island.
• Carl Lancaster of Greenwich, CT, used his 10-inch to find 100 of them from the same site on eastern Long Island.
• The1996 All-Arizona Messier Marathon was hold on March 16-17, involving about 65 telescopes all crewed with observers in an excellent location 35 miles north of Kitt Peak (but 100 miles to drive), about half-way between Phoenix and Tucson. 30 observers published their results, includingDavid Fredericksen of the SAC who hunted them all down with his 12.5-inch Dobsonian, 4 observers who logged 109 (all missing M30), and another 13 who logged at least 106, and two more in the "100 +" (thus a total of 20 observers). Congratulations!
• Dawn Jenkins was less lucky with the weather this time, buthere is her Messier Marathon Report of March 15-16, 1996, when she, together with friends, logged 22 Messier objects + one NGC globular, plus observed comet Hyakutake
• Jim Hendrickson completed his most successful marathon to date on March 16-17, 1996. He tagged 76 objects with a 70mm Pronto (!). He pretty much skipped the entire Virgo cluster, and missed a few of the globulars in Sagittarius when dawn started.
• Chuck Musante of the University of Massachusetts bagged 98 Messier objects on March 16/17, 1996, from his local group's dark sky site in the Berkshire's of western Massachusetts (i.e., Arunah Hill). He missed the first six objects (his scope was in a bad place and couldn't get them through the trees), and he didn't get the last six (partially for the same reason). His observing companion,John Davis got 104 by using binoculars to get the first six. This was his second marathon; his first, in 1995, suffered from clouds after about 1:00 AM.
• TheNorthern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) hold a Messier marathon, and the members achieved the following results (observing site given in parentheses): Bruce Miller (Crockett): 95, Craig Tupper (Savage): 89, Rich Kaiser (Savage): 88, Jon Stewart-Taylor (Parsells): 39. Read their Messier Marathon page.
• Tom Hoffelder logged 104 objects on March 16-17, 1996, with his 8" f/6 from San Jose, CA. He also observed 4 comets: two Hyakutake's, Szczepanski, and Hale-Bopp.
• Peter Nicholl logged 93 Messier objects on March 23-24, 1996, asreported in his March 1997 observing report
• Out of the run, but notable to see what can be done at any date, not only at Marathon time in March: At the Winter Star party this year,Scott Smith ran his personel "mini marathon", and bagged 56 Messier objects. Also respectable, taking into account that this was his first "mini thon" !
• James Liley of the TUVA Astronomy Club logged 103 Messier Objects.

• The Astronomy Club (TAC) members held their 1997 TAC Messier Marathon on March 8-9, 1997, at Henry Coe park in Morgan Hill, California in rare clear weather, which turned cloudy and windy as sunset approached. Bill Arnett has collected thereports of the members of his informalPtolemy Supper Club.
  • AttendentAkkana Peck hunted down 102 Messier objects,Centaurus A (which was christened the Hamburger Galaxy on this event), obtained several photos and observed brilliant comet Hale-Bopp. Read her observing report !
  • Mark Taylor hunted 97 Messier objects, and saw an additional 12 using his LX200 computer which are not counted as Marathon score (so he saw the achievable maximum of 109).
  • Rich Neuschaefer scored 105 objects with his A-P 130mm f/8 EDT refractor, missing M74, M72, M73 and M30, and forgot M2. He also observed comet Hale-Bopp.
  • Bill Arnett scored zero as he observed many Messier objects using his LX200 to its fullest; at least, he had his fun.
• Together with his friend Dean,Darryl Stanford hold their first Messier Marathon in Santa Rosa. As Darryl states inhis report, he logged 50 while Dean scored 97 Messier objects. They have also observed comet Hale-Bopp, Mars, and several NGC objects.
• Jay R. Freeman's Messier Observing report of March 7 and 8, 1997
• Mark Wagner viewed from Henry Coe State Park south of San Jose, California on the night of March 8. Using a 14.5" f/5.6 dob and a 19mm Panoptic, Telrad finder, heviewed 104 Messiers.
• The1997 All Arizona Messier Marathon was held on March 8-9, 1997, at a dark place near Arizona City. This was really a good night: 9 observers hunted down the possible maximum of that night, 109 objects (as M30 was impossible):The Alber's,Carl Anderson,Steve Bell,Paul Dickson,Flynn Haase,Bill Peters,Bernie Sanden,Bruce Walsh, andCharles Whiting. Five more observers achieved the 100+. Comet Hale-Bopp gave an extra show as it rised at 3 am.
• Messier Marathon inventorTom Hoffelder finally managed to hold a20th anniversary marathon in the night of April 6-7, 1997, from a place near Tulsa, Oklahoma, and logged 101 Messier objects, by chance the same number as in his first marathon 20 years ago.
• TheNorthern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) hold their second Messier marathon this year, and the members achieved the following results (observing site was Crockett, unless otherwise noted): Bruce Miller and Craig Tupper: 105 each, Rich Kaiser: 104, Mike Walker: 102, Jon Stewart-Taylor (Rocky Mount NC): 20. Read their Messier Marathon page.
• Members of the German "Volkssternwarte Hagen" have held a Messier Marathon (their 6th since 1992) in Sauerland on March 7-8, 1997. As the location is not as favorable as others at this about 51 degrees Northern latitude, the "magical" mark of 100 was again not achieved, but their results are as follows: Frank Döpper (280 mm SC): 96, Dirk Panczyk (333 mm Newton): 88, Johannes Hernsdorf (114 mm Newton): 76.
• Scott Parker of the TUVA Astronomy Club logged 67 Messier Objects, despite bad weather.

• Jeff Jenkins andStephen Horan ran their Messier Marathon on the night of March 27/28, 1998. They were located north-east of Las Cruces, NM (approx: 106.7W, 32.6N). The main problem encountered was Zodiacal light and heavy haze near the horizon due to blowing dust much of the 26th and 27th. Stephen used a C-11 and star hopping, and finally bagged 104 Messier objects. Jeff used a Meade 8 and setting circles and found 108. Stephen missed M74 (sky too bright), M75, M2, M72, M73, and M30, Jeff missed only M77 and M30 but got the rest by using setting circles. M 32 and M33 were very difficult due to sky background brightness. However, during a practice run the week before, the two observers had no trouble with these objects.

  This is the first marathon for both observers. They had tried in 1997 but had been weathered out.

• Robert Davidson did his very first Messier Marathon on March 27/28, 1998 and immediately baggedall 110 Messier objects from the Arizona City observing site with his 8-inch f/8 telescope in a wonderful session with the coyotes as his only companions in this great site with room for well over 100 telescopes.See Bob's excellent report (based on our form). Congratulations, Bob !
• Dave Mitskylogged 58 Messier objects in a weather-limited Messier Marathon session from ASH Naylor Observatory, Lewisberry, PA on March 28-29, 1998.
• Jay R. Freeman, looking in vain for fellow observers in the San Francisco Bay area, eventuallylogged 40 Messier objects with his Meade 127 ED refractor from the Henry Coe State Park observing site on March 28, 1998.
• Troy Johnstonebagged 69 Messier objects on March 29-30, 1998 with his 8-inch Meade Starfinder Dobson from Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
• TheNorthern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) Messier Marathon was pretty successfull, with a number of new "contentants", and with many previous participants increasing their totals. The 1998 results are available attheir website, and a quick list is:

     Total          Name    107       Craig Tupper    104       Barry Wolfe    104       Jonathan Bein    102       Ron Cook    100       Jon Stewart-Taylor     35       John Avellone     35       Ron Mickle

  Their original night was clouded out, but the following night was clear.
• Tony George from Umatilla, Oregon and the Tri-City Astronomy Club, SE Washington run a Messier Marathon from Holdman, OR on March 29, 1998, andobserved 101 Messier objects (logged on our form !). He also run a second marathon on April 25, 1998 and bagged 91.
• On March 29-30, 1998, amateursMark Dunnett,Paul Money,Stephen andTimothy Tonkin, andBev Ewen-Smith held a Marathon at theCOAA, Algarve, Portugal, and three of them (Mark Dunnett, Stephen Tonkin and Paul Money) bagged the complete set of 109 objects they had looked for (their list did not include controverseM102), plus a number of NGC and IC objects.Note Stephen's report.
• David Stine of the TUVA Astronomy Club logged 88 Messier Objects, despite bad weather (again).
• Out of competition,Penny Fischer run herMini Marathon on March 28 and bagged 18 objects.
• The Messier Marathon 1998 was an event of many unhappy failures. Above all, theenthusiastically prepared and well-planned1998 All Arizona Messier Marathon, scheduled for March 28-29, fell victim to an unexpectedrain-out, according to J.R. Freeman, some of the San Francisco Bay area astronomers were even hailed (see his report above), and one of the authors' (HF's) own first attempt to run a Messier Marathon from Konstanz/Germany on March 31, 1998 was infamously hazed and fogged out after having bagged only 21 and lost 4 objects in the evening sky (see report).

• The1999 Arizona Messier Marathon, held March 13-14, 1999, was again a great success, with an attendence of 49 vehicles and 53 scopes. Five observers, namelyBill Ferris,Joe Goss,Michael Mathers,Tom Polakis, andDouglas Smith, hunted down 109 Messier objects, the maximum possible on this date (M30 being unavailable). Each two more observers saw 108 (missing also M72) and 107 (missing M30, M72 and M73) objects, respectively, five found 106 and each one observer logged 105, 104, 103, and 100 objects, giving a total of 18 marathoners with a result of 100 or more.
  Separate reports were contributed from participantsBobby Martin (105), who also reports Kasia Zabinski's score of 31 objects, andDouglas Smith (109) of the TAAA who run it together with Michael Mathers. Bill Ferris (109) has put his ownMessier Marathon pages online,as did Steve Dodder (107) for his and his wife's marathon.
• Don Machholz run a Messier Marathon in the night of March 12/13, 1999 from Colfax, CA with his 6" Newtonian reflector. Having found all 100 objects to M69, he stopped his session and used the rest of the night for comet hunting.
• Russell F. Pinizzotto of the University of North Texas did two Messier Marathon sessions this year, the first time scoring 54 from the University of North Texas Observatory on March 15-16, 1999, and in the second attempt from the Andromeda Galaxy Observatory in Fort Davis, TX, on March 19-20, 1999, scoring all 110 Messier objects ! Congratulations !Read his report, andsee his featured article.
• On March 20th, 1999,Marc Daniels bagged 62 Messier objects in less than 5 hours. The weather wasn't the best. Around 11:30 or so, the sky was overcast. Marc did his observation at the 1999 East Coast Star Party in Coinjock, NC.
• Dave Mitsky of the Pennsylvania State University participated in a Messier Marathon at the East Coast Star Party on Friday, 3/19/99. Unfortunately, he arrived at the observing site too late to bag many of the early M objects. Even though he spent some time observing non-Messier objects through other people's scopes he managed to log 80 Messiers.Here is a revised copy of his report first published insci.astro.amateur.
• The Kalamazoo Astronomical Society (Michigan, USA) held its most successful Messier Marathon to date March 19/20, 1999. Eight club members and 12 students started with this endeavor in the evening, but only three stayed to bag 103 Messier objects:Mike Dupuis,Dave Garten, andMark E. Miller.Read Mark Miller's great report!
• Brian Pelletier andScott Patterson did a mini-marathon on 3/13/99 in Colton, South Dakota. It was a bit brisk to do an all-nighter, but they bagged 44 Messiers in 3 1/2 hours. They are hoping to improve on this next time! See their report!
• Mark Deprest, President of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, run a Messier Marathon on 03/12/1999 from the Lake Hudson State Rec. Area (Lat: N41 50.274', Long: W84 14.638'), using a Meade 8" f/6 Newtonian on Dobsonian Mount. From this cold (28 deg F dropping to about 15 deg) and very dark site with overall seeing conditions he rated at 8.5 out of 10, he was able to see 87 Messier objects before the cold ended his MM at 04:30, 3.13.1999.See his report!
• Jane Houston of the SF Sidewalk Astronomers and the Hawaiian Astronomical Society reports of the March 13, 1999 Messier Marathon held in Molokai, Hawaii.Read her report and viewpictures from this event.
• TheAlbuquerque Astronomical Society held its Messier Marathon Saturday night March 20, 1999 at the society's General Nathan Twining Observatory approximately 60 miles SSW of Albuquerque, NM. They had about 40 observers and of those 40, 7 managed to last the night.Kevin McKeown andGordon Pegue did the best results by locating 108 objects each, both missing only M74 in the evening and M30 in the morning sky, 3 more folks scored 107, 106 and 101, respectively. For more detailread Gordon Pegue's report.
• Shawn &Jennifer Clark run their Messier Marathon in the night of 3/19-20/99 from Star Mountain, Texas (between Fort Davis and Balmorhea, Lat ~30deg 50', Long ~103deg 50') with a 8" SCT (Celestar 8 with 8x50 finder). They logged 107 Messier objects, missing only M72, M73, or M30 in the morning twilight. This was Jenny's first and Shawn's second Messier Marathon.Read their report for more detail.
• Amateur astronomers from thePeoria Astronomical Society observatory in rural Peoria County held the one-night Peoria Astronomical Society Messier Marathon on the evening of March 20 and morning of March 21, 1999. Two teams (one beingSteve Thomas and the other consisted ofJohn Barra andTim Lester) each succeeded in locating 104 Messier objects; all missed M72, M73, M15, M2 and M30, while only Thomas could find M55 and Barra and Lester were able to see M75.Read John Barra's report, which has been used in their summer newletter already.
• Michael Lawson of Indianapolis did the Marathon in two sessions: From a site just south of Peru, Indiana, he started and nailed 52 objects in 3 hours, when frost ended his observing session. He finished the marathon in June, logging 108 objects of 109 he had looked for, only missing M83 from this northern location.Read his report.
• Nicolas Biver ran a Messier Marathon on March 14-15, 1999, logging 109 objects and missing only M30.
• TheNorthern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) members achieved the followingMessier Marathon 1999 results (thanks to Jon Stewart-Taylor for contributing):

    107  Craig Tupper  104  Jerry Wolczanski  103  Jon Stewart-Taylor   92  Jonathan Bein   78  Michael Mills   74  Joe Colaccino   25  David Bonnell

• Tom Hoffelder had wanted to do a Messier Marathon this year 1999 with his C14 but March weather didn't cooperate so he had to settle for a late run in April (4/11-12), from an observing place near Tulsa, OK. This time, he only got 103; missed M74, 77, 33, 31, 32 and 110 in the evening (because of the date) and M30 in the morning because the Moon was very near to it. To keep busy, he also observed as many NGC objects as possible which turned out to be 48, mostly edge-on galaxies. It was a busy and fun night and, as always, he used the Right Angle Sweep which involves no setting circles.

• An amateur group withIsaac Silver of the Florida Institute of Technology Astronomy/Astrophysics group attempted the Marathon on March 3/4, and succeeded in observing 106 objects at the Bull Creek observatory site in Central Florida. Clouds prevented two objects at the beginning of the night, and they were too early in the month for the last two objects.
• Dave Mitsky ran an Early March Messier Marathon on Friday, March 3rd from Naylor Observatory near Lewisberry, Pennsylvania. Using a 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian and a 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at 64x to 270x magnification, he hunted down 79 Messier objects, finally running out of time for various reasons.Here is his observing report of this marathon session.
• Dave Mitsky also participated in a Messier Marathon on March 31-April 1, 2000 at Cherry Springs State Park, Potter County, PA, USA, together with four fellow observers (Gary Honis,Dave Barrett, "Stosh" andWayne Natitus). He bagged 92 Messier objects with an 80mm f/5 Orion ShortTube refractor and a 12.5" f/4.8 Starsplitter Compact Dobnewt in this session, plus a number of NGC and other deepsky objects.See his report!
• Ron Humphrey of Mitchell, Georgia (USA) did a Messier Marathon the night of March 5/6, 2000 from a site near Augusta, Georgia at lat 32.5 N and long 87.7 W. He got 106 of the 110 possible, missing only M30, M2, M73, and M75; he was at the position of M75 when morning twilight caught up with him. M2 and M30 were probably not possible at this early date and at 32.5 north latitude. Ron speculates that M75 might have been possible if he had started 2 or 3 minutes earlier. He eventually swept over position of M73, but time didnt permit changing to a higher magnification and refocusing. Ron used an 8 inch Newtonian f/4.5 on a dob mount.
• Timothy Geoghegan ran a Messier Marathon on 4/5 March 2000 from Denver, CO (lat 39deg40min) with an 8" Starhopper (no setting circles, no finderscope, no computers). He got 106 objects, all but Ms 72, 73, 55, and 30.See his report !
• Ed Kreminski ran his first Messier Marathon on the night of March 3-4 from the CAS dark-sky site (Lat. 39.7 N, Lon. 81.8 W) in Ohio. He used a Tele Vue-101 apo refractor on an Alt-Az mount and a "red-star" unity finder to point the scope. Using only star charts and thumbnail prints from the SEDS site for verification, he managed to observe 103 Messiers on his first Marathon. The sky was unusually transparent and the only problems were a wave of cirrus clouds that moved in just as he was starting on the Virgo region and the poor placement of the last few Messiers in the light of dawn. The clouds moved off after about an hour and he was able to continue until dawn. Ed was unable to observe M-55, M-75, M-15, M-2, M-72, M-73 and impossible M-30.
• Phillip Hosey and his friendsTom McGowan,Tom Danei, andMark Crowler made their first Messier Marathon attempt on March 4 from a dark site in West Georgia. They used Tom's 16" and Phillip's 15" Dobsonian telescopes with a number of eyepieces, and bagged 106 objects.See Phillip's report for more detail.
• Len Bradley andBob Havner ran a Messier Marathon from Gilroy, CA in the night of April 1st and 2nd, 2000. They saw 98 objects, missing Ms 74, 77, 31, 32, 110, 33, 76 (early in the evening, due to their location) and 72, 75, 73, 55, 30 (due to the sunrise, although 72, 75, and 73 were also missed due to location; they were behind a tree!). This was their first attempt at the marathon and they were very pleased to have been so successful. The night was quite beautiful and the temperature was mild. Read more about their session!
• On March 31/April 1 2000,Don Machholz only did a 2-hour evening session, but during this session, hunted down 63 Messier objects from Colfax, CA with his 6-inch Newtonian.
• Kevin Bays saw 106 Messier objects on 4/1-4/2/2000, missing Ms 32, 33, 74, and 110.
• Steven Dodder andJim Deck of the Saguaro Astronomy Club completed a Messier Marathon on April 2, 2000 from Steven's Stone Haven Observatory, in Maricopa, AZ (Long 112:09 W, Lat 32:55 N). Steven used his C8 and Jim his 8" Dob. Due to evening clouds, they first missed M 31, 32, 110, 76, 52, 33 and 103 together with M74 and M77, but then ran through up to M30. In the second morning chance, Steven caught M31, 32, and 110, thus bagging 104, while Jim found M52 and M103 for a total of 102 objects. They also ran a successful all-planet marathon.See Steven's report! (or hisown Messier Marathon 2000 results webpage)
• Michael Slaven, together with friendsAlexander Macia,Leah Macia, his wifeKristina Olson, brotherChip Slaven, and sonLee Slaven of age 2 did a Messier Marathon on March 31-April 1, 2000 from Cabins, West Virginia (Long 79d 21.59' W, Lat 38d 57.68' N). They used a Celestron 8, an 80mm f/11 refractor, a 4.5" f/4 reflector, and 12 x 50 binoculars. In this first attempt, Michael managed to find 64 object, with his co-observers verifying the objects.See his report!
• Paul Littlecoyote of Big Bear City, CA did his first "solo" Messier Marathon on April 3-4, 2000 with a 20x80 binoculars, and found 106 objects, missing only M-74, M-77, M-76, and M-30.See his report.
• TheBrevard Astronomical Society and theKennedy Space Center Amateur Astronomers both held a joint event at their north site on the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. This Messier Marathon was conducted the weekend of 3/31 and 4/1 2000.Roy Uyematsu got 98 objects, as early morning Fog and some trees to the northwest prevented him from viewing more. Missed in the early evening were M74, M77, M31, M32, M33, M110 and M76. The early morning objects missed were M55, M2, M72, M73 and M30. Best view M11, M3, M5, and M17. Worst view M40 of course! Time to get through Virgo Cluster: 35 minutes!
• Bill Ferris had in mind to run a Messier Marathon on April 1, 2000 from a dark site near Flagstaff, AZ with his 10" Newtonian. After a rather successful 10x50 binocular twilight tour of galaxies, M74 escaped detection behind a hill, and made impossible his desire to go for all 110, so he gave up for this time.See his report.
• David Green participated in a Messier Marathon on April 1, 2000 at the L.A. Astronomical Society's Lockwood Valley observing site. Hills on the western horizon caused the loss of the first evening objects, but then he succeeded to bag 74 Messier objects until about 2:00 a.m., when he stopped.See his report!
• Dave Moses of Emyvale, Prince Edward Island, Canada, did his first Messier Marathon on April 1-2, 2000. Cloudy weather only permitted observing between 9 pm and midnight, and Dave succeeded to observe 64 Messier objects in these 3 hours. He also observed conspicuous Northern Lights that night.See his report.
• Andrew Cooper of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association ran a Messier Marathon on April 4-5, 2000 from Empire Ranch near Tucson, AZ with his 6" RFT, and pushed his old record of 106 to 108 Messier objects, only missing M74 and M33 in the evening.Read his report!
• TheLongmont Astronomical Society (Colorado) held it's 1st Annual Mighty Messier Marathon on Saturday night, 1 April 2000 at Pawnee National Grasslands in northeastern Colorado.Jim Sapp has written up and contributeda report for their newsletter. With his 12x50 binoculars and a 3.25 inch f/15 refractor he was able to bag 106 M.'s, missing only M74, M77, M75, and M30. The only other member of their party to go for the gusto,Dave Ewing, used an 8 inch f/6 Newtonian to bag 100 even.
• Allen Mayer participated in the Messier Marathon at the NOVAC club observing site, Crockett Park, Nokesville (VA); this was his first marathon. He used a 1981 C8 and a Short Tube 80. Under a sky with about 5 mag limiting magnitude and somewhat hazy conditions, he managed to hunt down 52 Messier objects before inmoving clouds ended this observing session at about 1 a.m., just after he had bagged the Virgo Cluster galaxies.See his report.
• J. Bein ran his Messier Marathon on March 5-6, 2000 (probably) from the Savage site of NOVAC, and was able to bag 104 Messier objects.See his report (2000 & 2001).
• Nicolas Biver ran a Messier Marathon on March 5, 2000 from Dillingham airfield, OAHU, Hawaii, and found all the 109 objects but M30, all which were possible at this date.See his timings.
• The Astronomy Club (TAC) held their annual Messier Marathon on April 1-2, 2000 at Henry Coe state park (near San Jose, Calif). Some low western horizon evening clouds prevented many to find some of the evening clouds. It was estimated that at least 50 telescopes took part in this star party; the number of marathoners was not determined. The following results were reported:Paul LeFevre used a 12.5-inch tofind 107 objects, missing only M77, M74 and M33 in the evening and recovering M32 and M110 on his second morning chance - this was probably the (or one of the) best results in this marathon.Rich Neuschaefer used an an Astro-Physic 155mm f/7 (155EDFS) APO refractor and found 103 objects, missing M74, M77, M31, M32, M110, M33, and M30.
• Seven members took part in the Huachuca Astronomy Club (HAC)'s Messier Marathon on March 3-4, 2000 at Junk Bond Observatory near Sierra Vista, Arizona.Glenn Sanner andJohn Cassella achieved a score of 106 Messier objects (missing M2, M73, M72, and M30), whileDave Healy cheated by using his computer-slewed Celestron 14 to observe 109, all but M30.See Dave's report for details.
• Jeff Layfield from North Carolina ran a Messier Marathon with his 10" Meade LX 50 SCT, and was able to observe 71 Messier objects, using the guide from Sky & Telescope.
• TheSan Diego Astronomy Association held a Messier Marathon on April 1-2, 2000 at the TDS site. Their most successful marathoner, Rick Steiner, was able to search, locate, and identify 101 Messier objects. For more information seetheir Messier Marathon webpage.
• Girish Vaze, Swapneel Kore and Riyaz Amin from Mumbai, India attempted the Messier Marathon in April 2000 and were able to see 104 objects. They missed because these objects set with the sun.
• Denis M. Legault of theOttawa Valley Astronomy and Observers Group (OAOG) undertook his first Messier Marathon on March 31st 2000 from his observing place in Ontario, Canada. He observed 105 objects missing M74, M77, M33, M55 and M30 due to clouds and a latitude of 45.5N.
• TheAll Arizona Messier Marathon 2000 was held in the night of April 1-2, 2000 at theArizona City Site. Although weather forecast was not too optimistic, 22 people came to attend this event, and 16 telescopes were set up. Not completely unexpected, nobody could find M74. Best results were achieved byPaul Davidson (108, missing M33 also),Paul Lind (107) andKevin Bays andMatt Spinelli (106 each). First-time marathonerMark Stephenson bagged 104 and got place 5. A.J. Crayon, the coordinator of the Arizona Messier Marathons, has againcontributed a great report and results from this event; thanks!

The first Messier Marathon of the new millennium, 2001 turned out to be a truely record breaking event!

• Jonathan A. Bein undertook a Messier Marathon from NOVAC's Savage site in the night of March 19-20, 2001. He used a scope with Telrad finder and binoculars. He got all evening objects, but in the morning about 3:00 am the waning Moon crescent made observing difficult. He ended up in a personal record, scoring 107 Messier objects and having missed M55, M75, and M30.See his report.
  On March 22-23, 2001Jonathan A. Bein, together withCraig Tupper, undertook another Messier Marathon from a site in the George Washington National Forest, 38degrees 39.9' N latitude, 79.5 W longitude. Missing four objects in the evening (M74, 77, 33, ), they ended up with 106 of 110 when they finally bagged M30 after 5:00 a.m.See Jonathan's report.
  On March 26-27, 2001,Craig Tupper andJonathan Bein endeavoured a third and final Messier Marathon 2001, this time from the side of Mt. Weather rd. near Heart Trouble La, and the Savage site of NOVAC. This time, they bagged up everything but M30, thus scored 109 of 110.Jonathan again provided a report!
• TheAltrincham and District Astronomical Society (Manchester, UK) attempted their first Messier Marathon on Sunday 18th March, from 53deg Northern latitude.Paul Clark reports that he succeeded in observing 101 objects, missing M7, 30, 54, 55, 69, 70, 72, 73 and 75.See his short report, andread his more comprehensive online report!
• Kirk Alexander andJack Gelfand of Princeton, New Jersey had two successful Messier Marathons from Arizona, each of them scoring fully with 110 of 110 objects! All this happened around the premier Marathon weekend, March 22-25, 2001. The first night, March 22-23, 2001, they were at the Chiricahua National Monument near Wilcox, and on Saturday March 24 to Sunday March 25, they participated in the2001 All Arizona Messier Marathon near Arizona City. Kirk has put their observing reportonline.
• Kirk Alexander also reports that a small team of people in Princeton, New Jersey did a Messier Marathon on March 23-24, using the recently rennovated 36" scope and a small 4" scope to locate 108 objects. Given the light pollution, that was a major accomplishment even for a 36"!
• For the second year in a row,Ed Kreminski ran a Messier Marathon from the CAS (Columbus Astronomical Society) dark sky site near Zanesville, Ohio USA. Ed managed to observe 102 Messier objects on the evening of 22-23 March 2001 using only an Alt-Az mounted 4" Apo-refractor and starcharts. This year's obstacles to getting all 110 Messiers included two stray cows wandering around the telescope field and clouds that blanketed the sky after 4am. Misses included the last eight Messiers: M54, M55, M75, M15, M2, M72, M73 and M30.
  Poor weather conditions over central Ohio forced the cancellation of the CAS Messier Marathon on Saturday, 24 March, 2001.
• March 23-24, 2001:Bill Ferris, being a day early and practising for the2001 All Arizona Messier Marathon, from theArizona City site, logged all 110 Messier objects alrready during this "exercising" session. It happened that he also succeeded during the All Arizona Messier Marathon, thus becoming the first person to run two fully successful Messier Marathons in two successive nights!Read his report!
• Dave Mitsky of Harrisburg, PA attempted a Messier Marathon on Friday March 23 from a dark site in a state forest tract an hour north of Harrisburg. With his Orion ShortTube 80 and Celestron 20x80 binoculars, he withstood cold and partly cloudy weather and finally logged about 60 Messier objects after about 8 hours. Also observed Jupiter, the Double Cluster, Stock 2, Melotte 111, Collinder 399, Mars, a number of binary stars and saw several satellites through the eyepiece.See his report!
• Ken Mallard of North Carolina did his first Messier Marathon on March 23-24, 2001, but "cheated" by using his Meade LX200 w/ computer to find the objects; he found 102 Messier objects.See his report.
• TheFirst Yugoslavian Messier Marathon was held at the night of March 23-24, 2001, at the Letenka youth summer camp, ( Lon: 19 d.41' E, Lat.: 45 d.08' N ) Fruska Gora Hills, 400 meters above sea level, 15 km south-west from Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. 15 teams of 2, from various Yugoslavian cities, attempted a promotional competition, but due to bad weather conditionsSee Dragan Miladinovic's report.
• The Ohio Valley Astronomical Society had their 2001 Messier Marathon on March 23-24 from a dark site near Huntington, Ohio. Each of the five participants provided a personal Messier Marathon report, but you can link all from theOVAS' Messier Marathon page:Dave Tolley (TV-101; 103 objects);Rodger Blake (20" Obsession; 95 objects);Larry Oyster (C8, 70mm bino; 29);Don Kemper (10" Cave Reflector; over 20);Jeff Ball (AP 130 EDT; photographed M65/66 and M13 - thus 3 objects)
• David Neal Minnick of Lake Elsinore, CA did his first Messier Marathon on March 23-24, 2001, from the Kofa Wildlife Refuge, AZ, using his C14/G11 (but no DSC's, no Gemini). He used Harrington's order-of-battle. M74 escaped before he could identify it, but otherwise, a clean sweep: He succeeded in finding 109 Messier objects (5866 as 102).
• Paul Gray of Fredericton, NB, Canada, and member of the Halifax Centre of the RASC, did a marathon with the Delmarva Stargazers on Marylands Eastern shore on March 23/24, 2001 from Tuckahoe State Park (eastern shore of Maryland, USA, one hour's drive from Washington, DC). He attemepted his 5th marathon at a much lower latitude than any before and in a slightly warmer forgiving climate! He found 109 Messiers with hid 12.5-inch f/5 Discovery truss dobsonian, missing only M30.Read his report!
• Arto Oksanen andHarri Hyvönen of theNyrola Observatory held their first CCD Messier Marathon on March 24/25, 2001 from their location in Finland, at 62.5N latitude, and could image 82 objects from 83 possible at this latitude. See their results on the web.
• Robert Martin undertook his second Messier Marathon (after 1999) on March 24-25, 2001 from Joshua Tree, CA, with his Meade 10" LX-50. Arriving late, he missed 6 evening objects (M77, M74, M33, M31, M32, M110) but found all other 104 Messier objects.Read his report!
• Phil Harrington undertook a Messier Marathon on March 24/25, 2001, using 10x50 and 16x70 binoculars. The early evening was lost due to persistent clouds and showers. Sky finally cleared around 9 PM, so evening rush-hour objects were lost. Phil started his hunt at the Southold, NY site, but clouds came back around 1 AM. So he returned home, where it was clear, and continued as best he could from my somewhat limited backyard. Missed morning rush-hour objects due to poor ESE horizon.
• Russ Pinizzotto tried a Messier Marathon on 24-25 March 2001 from Maryville, MO, using his 20 x 80 Celestron binoculars on a Virgo mount. He couldn't see M77 at the start of the evening, but it went very well from there. He found all of the objects he was searching for until it completely clouded over at 4:30 am. He missed all of the late objects: M70, M55, M75, M15, M2, M72, M73 and M30, and ended up seeing 101, so at least was able to break 100.Read his report!
• ThePeoria Astronomical Society conducted its 2001 Messier Marathon on March 24-25, 2001. After a good start, clouds came up and eventually, snow ended this event at about 2:30; best results were obtained byTim Lester (75) andJohn Barra (74).Read John Barra's report, or the PAS'online report.
• Mark Hansen did his first Messier Marathon on March 26, 2001 from the Greenville, MI area, with a 16" f4 Dobsonian, with 27mm Panoptic and Parracor. He bagged 101 Messier objects in this attempt.
• Douglas Rudd reports that cloud cover prohibited the2001 Des Moines Astronomical Society Messier Marathon scheduled for March 24-25 at Ashton Observatory near Baxter, Iowa. However, on Monday March 26, sky was clear and he ran a successful Messier Marathon from Ashton Observatory, Iowa. With his 114mm f/8 Newtonian and the Observatory's 16" f/4.5 Newtonian, he was succesful in finding 104 Messier objects, missing only M77, M74 and M33 in the evening and M55, M2, and M30 in the morning (basically trees).Read his report!
• Don Machholz attempted a Messier Marathon from near Josua Tree, CA with his 6-inch Newtonian, on March 25/26, 2001, but after finding 88 objects, clouds ended his session. The following night, March 26/27, 2001, for the first time after 22 years, long-term Messier Marathoner Don Machholz successfully hunted downall 110 Messier Objects! Congratulations!
• Brent Archinal has compiled a collection of Messier Marathon 2001 reports by members of theNorthern Virgina Astronomy Club (NOVAC) which is available online on their website. More info is available on their Messier Marathon Resource page.
• The firstIranian Messier Marathon as held at " Kavir" national park on April 19 to 20, 2001. About 40 people attended.See the report by Babak A.Tafreshi and Oshin D.Zakarian (Nojum magazine).
• Jan Wisniewski of the RASC Kingston Centre undertook his first Messier Marathon on March 30/31, 2000 from Gould Lake Conservation Area, Ontario, Canada. Using his 6-inch f/4 homemade Dobsonian together with a 10x50 binoculars, he successfully hunted down 106 Messier Objects, missing M74 and M77 in the evening and M30 in the morning twilight, as well as M55 which was hiding behind trees.Read his report!
• The2001 All Arizona Messier Marathon was held on March 24-25, 2001, once more at theArizona City Site. This event turned out to be the most successful to date, attended by about 91 folks, 79 scopes, a comparable number of vehicles, coming together from all the US and even Canada, certainly many from Arizona. The score was a new record:25 observers found all 110 Messier objects! 20 others also found more than 100, and 11 more recorded their observations of fewer objects.A.J. Crayon, the coordinator of the Arizona Messier Marathons, of the Phoenix based Saguaro Astronomy Club, and first time personally bagging all 110, has againcontributed a great report and the results from this event; thanks and congratulations to him and all participants! Notably, after this event, there are now 5 persons who have succeeded twice with a full 110-score Messier Marathon:David Fredericksen (after 1996),Bob Davidson (after 1998),Kirk Alexander andJack Gelfand after their success two days earlier, andBill Ferris who is the first to succeed twice in two successive nights!
  Rick Tejera (who scored 106) contributedhis article for the SAC Newsletter.Bill Ferriscontributed his report on his double success.Brent A. Archinalcontributed his full-success report.

• Ken Mallard has run his 2002 Messier Marathon in the night of March 7-8, 2002, only with his 20x80 binoculars and star atlas. He finally bagged 81 Messier objects, missing e.g. 5 objects in the evening because of local light polution, couldn't identify M57 because of that object's smallness.See his report!
• Due to unexpected good observing conditions,Klaus Schulze-Frerichs did his 3rd "Mosborn Messier Marathon" on March 10/11, 2002. Using his Steiner 15x80 mm binoculars only, he was able to find all objects except those (as expected) rising during dawn (M30, M54, M55, M69, M70, M72, M73, M75) and got an excellent and satisfying number of 102.Read his report!
• Girish Vaze,Swapneel Kore andRiyaz Amin from Mumbai, India attempted their 2002 Messier Marathon on March 15, 2002 from Sinhagad (73.1 deg E, 18.4 deg N, elevation 1290 m), a 1000 year old fort, 30 km south of the city of Pune. Using their custom built 13.1 inch f/4.7 reflector, they successfully bagged 106 Messier objects, missing only M74, M32, and M110 in the evening, and M30 in the morning. In addition, they observed some non-Messier objects such as Omega Centauri, Eta-Carinae and NGC 5128 as well as quite a few NGC galaxies in Leo and Virgo.See Swapneel Kore's report!
• Paul Hart completed his first Messier Marathon on March 17, 2002 at Custer Institute Southold, New York, on the eastern tip of Long Island, using a 10 inch Newtonian, and 15 x 70 binoculars. He missed only 4 of the evening objects (M32, M33, M74 and M77), and bagged 87 objects before early morning clouds ended his marathon at 4:55 a.m. In addition, he saw comet Ikeya-Zhang in the evening.See Paul's report!
• Gerard Gendron undertook his first Messier Marathon in the night of March 16-17, 2002 from his club's (SAPM, Montreal) observing site in Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada, 40 miles south of Montreal. As he could start late only, he missed M77-74-79-33-31-32 and 110 in the evening, didn't identify M88 and 91 in the Virgo Cluster, and bagged 77 Messier objects before dawn brightened the sky and ended his marathon session.See his report!
• Russell Pinizzotto tried his fourth Messier Marathon from Maryville, MO on March 17-18, 2002, and logged 83 objects using 20 x 80 Celestron binoculars. Evening haze and morning fog made this marathon session difficult. Russell missed M77 and M74 in the early evening, and the sky clouded over at about 4:15 am.See his report!
• Denis M. Legault of theOttawa Valley Astronomy and Observers Group (OAOG) did his 2002 Messier Marathon - his second marathon after that of 2000 - on March 16-17, 2002 from a small town about 30 miles Southwest of Ottawa, Ontario Canada (45.5 N, 75.5 W). Under good weather conditions he was successful in finding all 108 Messier objects that are possible at this date and from this location: M30 and M55 are impossible under these conditions. He used his 14" PDHQ Discovery dobsonian with a Telrad, the Sky Atlas 2000, Uranometria 2000 and his Messier Marathon schedule list.Read his report!
• Matthias Juchert andSerina Filler did their first Messier Marathon on March 10-11, 2002 from a good place in Kaernten/Austria, using their new 8" f/6 Meade Starfinder EQ and a 10x70 Fujinon. Under considerably good conditions, they observed 100 Messier objects, as well as many other deepsky objects, a total number of over 130. Read Matthias'short announce and hisdetailed online report (German-language with some English remarks)!
• Tom Hoffelder decided to dotwo Messier Marathons in 2002, to celebrate the25th anniversary of the first Messier Marathons. The first was on March 16/17 and was done with an 8" f/6 Newtonian from his front yard in Tolland, CT. Tom found 104, missing the morning southeast low stuff due to horizon/location. His second marathon took place in the night of April 6/7 atArunah Hill in Massachusetts. With a Celestron C14, he got 103, missing the western evening galaxies and M30. Temp was about 15. This was Tom's 10th Messier Marathon in 25 years!
• Ed Kreminski finished a Messier Marathon on the evening of 10/11 April 2002 spotting 106 Messier objects. The same set-up was used at the same location for the third year in a row. The location was a dark sky site in east central Ohio. The seeing and transparency were only fair throughout the night. The telescope was an Alt-Az mounted TV-101 4" apo-refractor with a red-dot pointing device. Star charts were used to determine the location of the objects.
  Messier objects misses included early evening objects M74, M77, M33 and late morning object M30. M31 was spotted in evening twilight but M32 and M110 had to wait until M31/32/110 reappeared in the morning sky. Comet C/2002 C1 Ikeya-Zhang was seen at sunset and again in the morning. The comet shone brightly at magnitude 3.5 and sported a tail extending over 4 degrees during it's morning reappearance. Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter formed a spectacular line in the western sky at sunset. The double form of the ISS Alpha with docked Shuttle Atlantis was easily visible at low power in the scope at 01:06UT. A handful of bright blue-green meteors between 6-8UT rounded out the wonderful evening.
• TheWayne County Astronomical Society of Wooster, Ohio held a Messier Marathon on March 24-25, 2002. The 5 participating observers (plus one scor-ekeeper) were netting 58 objects before things iced over.See their Observing Log!
• TheSheffield Astronomical Society carried out a Messier Marathon on the night of the Full Moon - March 29/30, earlier nights had been affected by the weather. The equipment used consisted of an alt-az mounted 10" LX200 and two CCD cameras all controlled remotely from an old World War II bunker which provided some refuge from the weather. Despite the Moon and patchy mist 71 objects were successfully imaged in what may be the first imaging attempt made in the UK - unless someone knows better.See their online report (by Kevin Deakes, VP Sheffield Astronomical Society)
• For the secondMessier Marathon in Iran as many as 50 amateurs form different cities gathered on April 11/12, 2002 in the Semnan desert, but it rained out unfortunately. They are thinking now for the next year, and a possible plan for Messier plus Marathon in September. Thanks to Babak Tafreshi for the note!
• Jeff Tibb of theOklahoma City Astronomy Club was able to complete two full Messier Marathons this year. This was done despite trouble with rain and cloud cover. The first one on March 9th/10th was very cold but he recorded 91 Messier objects that night. The second one was the night of April 13th/14th and although the dew was heavy he recorded 99 Messier objects that night.Read his report!
• TheSan Jose Astronomical Association held their 2002 Messier Marathon (SJAA Don Machholz Messier Marathon) on April 13, 2002 at Coe Park with more than a dozen telescopes. That date, clouds and trees prevented them from viewing several of the evening objects, and at 1:30 am, clouds stopped the endeavor. ParticipantsPaul andMary Kohlmiller claimed 68 objects;read their online report!
• Jane andMorris Jones run their 2002 Messier Marathon in segments, with their newly acquired used Astro-Physics f/9 AP180EDT. They observed the first 48 Messier objects on March 14, 2002 from MacDonald Observatory, TX - had to stop because of clouds and a dead battery - the next 13 objects on April 7, 2002 from Lake Sonoma, CA, and the final 49 objects on May 12, 2002. On that day, they also did a nineplanet marathon!Read Jane's report!
• Don Machholz observed 109 Messier objects (all but M30) in a Messier Marathon on March 17/18, 2002 from Colfax, CA with his 6-inch Newtonian.
• Jan Wisniewski of the RASC Kingston Centre did his second Messier Marathon on March 16/17, 2002 together withDoug Angle andFred Barret from Fred's dark observing place near Maberty, Ontario, Canada. Jan used his 6-inch f/4 Dobsonian, while Fred used his 8-inch f/10 SCT and Doug his 4-inch f/4 refractor. Getting all eveing objects in a good start, Jan hunted down all 106 objects up to M75, and only lost M55, M72, M73, M30 in the morning twilight.Read his report!
• The2002 All Arizona Messier Marathon was held on April 13-14, 2002 at theArizona City Site, organized by A.J. Crayon and Jack Jones of theSaguaro Astronomy Club. Although this time it was only possible to observe 107 Messier objects because of the date, there were counted 84 people, 75 scopes and 66 vehicles attending. 8 observers managed to bag the highest possible score of 107 Messier objects (missing impossible M33, 74 and 77), and another five bagged more than 102 objects. Again, A.J. Crayon has contributed agreat report and the results of this event (thanks!) - the 14th success in a series of SAC and Arizona Messier Marathons since 1981.

• At the perhaps somewhat unusual date and season of October 29/30, 2002,Don Machholz undertook another Messier Marathon from Dutch Flat / Colfax CA. With a 6-inch reflector, and despite a 36% moon in the morning sky, he hunted down 106 Messier objects, missing M4, M104, M68 and M83.

• Wolfgang Howurek did his first Messier Marathon in the night of February 28 - March 1, 2003 from Ebenwaldhöhe, Lower Austria, and was able to observe 96 Messier objects with a 5.7" f/6 Maksutov-Newtonian. Read his report!
  On March 29, he tried a second run but gave up because of bad sky conditions.
• Swapneel Kore andGirish Vaze from Mumbai, India attempted their 2003 Messier marathon in the night of March 9-10. They managed to bagall 110 objects from Jawhar, India (around 200 km from Mumbai), with a 6 day old moon, which caused no difficulty for their custom built 13" telescope; cordial congratulations for this great success! This was their third year at attempting the Messier marathon and we thoroughly enjoyed it!Read their report!
• Khagol Mandal organized a Messier Marathon on India which was run on March 12/13, 2003. 5 observers shared a 5" f/10 Newtonian telescope and achieved the following results:Hrishikesh Joglekar: 103,Sameer Thakur: 102,Anurag Shevde: 100,Shailesh Sansare: 100, andNilesh Desai: 93.
• TheOhio Valley Astronomical Society held their Messier Marathon 2003 on 18-19 March, 2003; four members attended. Results were:Dave Tolley, over 80 objects,Don Kemper, 98 objects,Rodger Blake, 102 objects, andJeff Ball, some images.Read Rodger Blake's report!
• On March 22/23, theSheffield Astronomical Society once again attempted to image as many of the 100 Messier objects accessible that night using an LX200 and Starlight Xpress CCD camera. With very good weather conditions 98 Messier objects were captured, improving substantially on last year's effort of 71. A report on the event can befound online.
• Amateurs from Kiev, Ukraine ran a Messier Marathon on March 28/29, 2003 from a site near Kiev, at 50.30 deg Northern latitude.Leonid Tkachuk,Kostya Samoylenko andTibor Tompa used a 20-cm Ritchie-Cretien, a 15-cm and an 11.4-cm Newtonian to finally observe 84 Messier Objects that night.See Tibor Tompa's report!
• Jane Houston Jones run her Messier Marathon 2003 on March 28-29 and successfully found 106 Messier objects, missing M77 in the evening and M72, M73 and M30 in the morning. She used a 17.5-inch f/4.5 as well as an 80-mm reflector.Read her report!
• Michael T. Clancy, who calls himself a 45 year old novice (only had his 4.5" newtonian scope 14 months!), attended his first Messier Marathon on March 28-29, 2003, as a member of the Saskatoon chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, sponsor of the marathon. Due to extraordinarily bright aurorae that night, they fared rather poorly, although he did log 50 messiers, of which 24 were new to him. The next night (29 Mar 03) the weather deteriorated and no second attempt was made. Better luck next year!
• Don Machholz attempted his 2003 Messier Marathon from Colfax, CA on March 29-30, 2003, and hunted down 108 Messier objects. M72 and M73 were clouded out at his site. This time, he hunted down all the objectsfrom memory without using any maps, charts or lists, being the first reported marathoner to ever hunt down so many objects from memory and thus having a successful "M cubed" or "Messier Memory Marathon". Congratulations for this big success!Read his report!
• Jeff Tibb did his 2003 Messier Marathon on March 29-30 from Oklahoma with his 10-inch f/6 Dobsonian. He observed 107 objects missing only M74, M77 and M30.Read Jeff's report!
• TheSirius Lookers, Sedona Astronomy Club held their Messier Marathon on March 29, 2003 at their Two Trees site in Coconino National Forrest south of Sedona (Arizona). About 25 observers were present, but only few wanted to attempt the marathon.Padraig Houlahan of Flagstaff'sCAS managed to get all 109 Messier Objects (missing M110 due to confusion with the M102 controversy) with a 10" Dobsonian.Adam Bloomer of Phoenix got 103, while the rest found about 20 to 50 objects.Read Thom Walczak's report!
• TheTUVA Astronomy Club had a great night of marathoning at the TUVA Observatory outside of Council Hill, Oklahoma on Saturday March 29, 2003. About 15-20 observers from both the TUVA Astronomy Club and the Astronomy Club of Tulsa attended. Best results were achieved byRod Gallagher who hunted down 104 Messier objects,David Stine ended with 88.See David Stine's report and hisAstro Corner monthly report on this marathon (April 2003). Also look at Gerald R. Miller's images of the event.
• Craig Colvin undertook his first Messier Marathon on March 29-30, 2003 from Henry Coe state park with an Orion XT 10 dobsonian. In a great observing night, his final result was 106 Messier objects; missing ones were M77, M74, M33, and M30. It was his first time observation of 34 of the Messiers. And most important, he had a great time!Read his report!
• Eugene C. Dolphin did his Messier Marathon on March 29-30, 2003 from the SDAA site, Tierra del Sol, CA. Using P. Harrington's guide, he observed 102 Messier Objects with his 13.1-inch Odyssey. He writes he learned two lessons this time:
  (1) have printouts of sunset and sunrise objects handy,
  (2) do the Marathon earlier in month when the night is longer.
• Jan Wisniewski of the RASC Kingston Centre undertook a Messier Marathon in the night of March 31/April 1, 2003, together withDoug Angle andFred Barret from a dark site near Maberty, Ontario, Canada (Fred's property). Jan brought his 20-inch f/4 Dobsonian, while Fred used his 8-inch SCT. Due to late season and some bolders on the horizon, M74 and M77 got lost in the evening, as did M33 and M110. The marathon finally ended at about 4 a.m. as haze came up and prevented further observing; Jan had successfully hunted down 97 Messier Objects by that time.Read his report!
• ThePeoria Astronomical Society held it's annual Messier Marathon on March 31 - April 1, 2003 at their Decker-Grebner-VanZant Observatory west of Peoria. Of six members who started the marathon, only two survived to the morning.John Barra observed 106 objects, missing M74 in the evening and M2, M30 and M55 in the morning, whileTim McGrath found 102.See John Barra's report!
• The astronomy club inPune, India held their 2003 Messier Marathon on March 31 - April 1, 2003. Harshad Abhyankar succeeded in observing 99 Messier objects.
• TheCOAA Algarve Observatory, Portugal had a successful Messier Marathon on April 1/2, 2003. Leading observerGeorge Gilbart-Smith, assisted byJohn Harris,Ian Braithwaite andBev Ewen-Smith of COAA succeeded in observing all 110 Mesier objects; congratulations! This time, they decided to include NGC 5866 for M102, to achieve the full lot of 110.See Bev Ewen-Smith's report!
• Russell Pinizzotto ran his 2003 Messier Marathon in the night of April 1-2, 2003 at the new Bearcat Observatory of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, MO. He mainly used his Celestron 20 x 80 binoculars on a Virgo mount, augmented by 7 x 50 binoculars and his Criterion RV-6. Helps were Astro Cards and his own modified sequence. He finally found 107 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M77 and M30.See his report!
• TheWinston-Salem Astronomical League held its First Annual Messier Marathon on the night of 1/2 April 2003 at the Wake Forest University Lodge, a private facility on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Fancy Gap, Virginia at 3,000 feet elevation. The participating members achieved the following results:Steve Childers (10" Dob), 100 Messier Objects,Robert Thompson (10" Dob), 108 (missing M74 and M30), andPaul Jones (8" SCT), all 110, congratulations! Further detail can be found inRobert Thompson's report. Robert remarks that Steve's 100 is perhaps the most remarkable result, as in his fresh career in amateur astronomy, this was his first major application of the star-hop technique, and he had only observed about a dozen or two of the Messier objects at all previously.
• Ed Kreminski used his 4" TV-101 apo-refractor to star-hop to 108 Messier objects on the evening of April 2/3, 2003. This was from the same dark sky site in Ohio for the fourth year in a row. M74 and perennially pesky M30 were the two missed objects. Highlights of the evening included seeing the glow of the Gegenschein, Jupiter floating near sparkling M44 and Saturn shining near wispy M1.
• The2003 All Arizona Messier Marathon was held in the night of March 29-30, 2003, once more at theArizona City Site, and again organized by A.J. Crayon and Jack Jones of theSaguaro Astronomy Club. Approximately 80 vehicles attended, and 56 participants returned results lists. Due to season and bright zodiacal light, M74 was the most difficult object to observe this year. Nevertheless, no less than 14 marathoners succeeded in observing all 110 Messier objects! Congratulations! 12 more participants managed to hunt down 109 objects, five others got 108, three each observed 107 and 106, and five more got at least 100, so a total of 42 observers who achieved at least a 100-object score. Notably,Dawn Schur became the first lady find the full 110 objects on her own, andBob Davidson andDavid Fredericksen had their third full success. A.J. Crayon has contributed agreat report and results of this 15th successful Arizona Messier Marathon, thanks! Also note SAC's 2003 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• Tom Hoffelder andDick Parker, members of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford, tried the Messier Marathon two times in late March, 2003 but were clouded out around 1 A.M. both times. At the late date of April 24/25, they eventually succeeded from Tolland, CT, Tom with his C14 and Dick with his 12.5" f/5 reflector. Because of the late date, they missed M74, 77, 79, 33 and 34 in the evening, but recovered the equally-missed M76, M31, M32 and M110 in the morning. Then clouds prevented them from finding M30 and M55 in the morning, and they ended up with a respectable score of 103 observed Messier Objects.Read Tom's report!
• Don Machholz attempted another Messier Marathon at an unusual date: On October 29/30, 2003, he hunted down 105 Messier Objects from Dutch Flat / Colfax, CA with a 6" reflector, missing only M4, M61, M104, M68 and M83.

• The2004 All Arizona Messier Marathon was held in the night of March 20-21, 2004, once more at theArizona City Site, and again organized by A.J. Crayon and Jack Jones of theSaguaro Astronomy Club. A.J. Crayon has contributed not only theresults of this 16th successful Arizona Messier Marathon, but also a greatreport about the happening. Thank you so much! Also note SAC's 2004 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• Amateurs from the Ukraine ran a Messier Marathon on April 17/18, 2004 from Makalevichi, Gitomir region, at 50.69 deg Northern latitude.Leonid Tkachook used an homemade 6'' Newton xif/6.3 Azimut mount. He observed 100 Messier Objects that night.See Leonid Tkachook's report!
• Jyotirvidya Parisanstha, Pune (India's Oldest Amature Astronomers' Association; also known as JVP by the amateur astronomers in India) held its Annual Messier Marathon on 20/21 March 2004 at the Tamhini, 65 km from Pune city. 6 participating members achieved the following results: Sagar Gokhale: 104, Harshad Abhyankar: 104, Nilima Thatte: about 100, Nikhil Belsare: 93 (first time observed), Indrajit Nanda: 70 (first time observed), and Parimal Dave: 50 (had to leave the marathon due to not feeling well). Thanks to Sagar Gokhale for reporting!
• The Winston-Salem Astronomical League held its Second Annual Messier Marathon on the night of 19/20 March 2003 at the Wake Forest University Lodge, a private facility on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Fancy Gap, Virginia at 3,000 feet elevation. Two of the five members present tried the Messier Marathon: Steve Childers and Sean Childers (father and son) each observed 109 Messier objects with their home-built 17.5-inch Dobsonian and a borrowed 10-inch Dob, missing only M30.Read Robert Thompson's great report!
• Paul Hart of Stony Brook, New York did the 2004 Messier Marathon on the night of March 22-23, 2004 on eastern Long Island at Custer Institute on Southold, New York and finished with 99 objects. He used a home made 10" dobsonian and 15 x 70 Binoculars. Missed M32, M33, M74 and M77 in the early evening, got all the objects until the morning rush, and missed M55, 75, 15, 2, 72, 73 and 30.Read his report!
• The Hilo Astronomy Club attempted their first Messier Marathon on the evenings of March 19 & 20 from the 9,300 foot level of Mauna Kea. After a good, but windy, start on Friday night the weather closed in and prevented any further attempts. A similar attempt by the University of Hawaii at Hilo Astronomy Club on Saturday night also failed. Two members of the Hilo Astronomy Club report formal results: Michael Connelley - 63 objects (12.5" Dob), Dave Brennen - 64 objects (11" Celestron NexStar GPS).Read Dave Brennen's report!
• Paul Clark successfully observed all 110 Messier objects in the night of March 19/20, 2004 from a site 2000m from the slopes of Mt. Tiede in the Canary Islands with his home-built 10" truss tube dobsonian. Congratulations!Read his report!
• Amateurs of theCornell Astronomical Society from Cornell University, Ithaka, NY attempted their first Messier Marathon on March 22/23, 2004 from Fuertes Observatory at Cornell University. Using a 12-inch f/15 refractor and 15x80 binoculars, they managed to find a total of 94 Messier objects before clouds came up at about 4:00 am and ended this event.Read Jagadheep D. Pandian's report!
• TheTUVA Astronomy Club in Council Hill, Oklahoma had a very successful Messier Marathon this year the night and morning of March 20-21, 2004. "Champ" Rod Gallaghar achieved the highest score of 101 Messier objects, and the six other participants looked up up to 49.Read David Stine's report!
• Herbert Gubo run his 2004 Messier Marathon on March 17-18, 2004 from the Public Observatory of the Astronomische Gesellschaft Buchloe, Germany. With his 12.5" f/5 Dobsonian (Discovery PDHQ 12.5), he successfully observed 101 Messier objects, missing M74, M33, M74, M70, M55, M75, M30, M72, and M73. This was the best night of this week in Herbert's location, despite several minor disturbations from third-party lights and weather.Read his report!
• TheSirius Lookers of Sedona, AZ had their Messier Marathon on March 20/21, 2004 from a site between Cottonwood and Sedona, AZ. About 20 amateurs attended, but clouds prevented a event so that only one marathoner, Milt Wilcox, continued to the morning and eventually found 101 objects with his 8" Newtonian and 18x50 binoculars.Read his report!
• TheSouthwest Florida Astronomical Society had their 2004 Messier Marathon near Miami, FL. Messier Marathon coordinatorFrank J Mraz caught 109 Messier objects, missing only M30 which was eaten up by Miami lights and fog.Joseph Cambala found 107 objects, missing only M72, M73, and M30.
• Hrishikesh Joglekar undertook a Messier Marathon on March 20/21, 2004 from Kharagpur, India. He was successful in spotting 82 Messier Objects with his 4" Newtonian.
• Don Machholz undertook two Messier Marathons this year, both from Red Cloud Rd. near Joshua Tree Park in southern California. He was accompanied byGeorge Robinson of Auburn, and in the first night byJane Houston Jones andMorris "Mojo" Jones. In both events, he tried to hunt down the objects from memory only, starting with a blank sheet of paper, and writing down each object he found. He used his 6" reflector, while George had a 10", Mojo a 14", and Jane a 12", all reflectors. On March 24/25, 2004, Don found 108 Messier Objects, missing M74 and M30. On March 25/26, 2004, he successfully hunted down all 110 Messier Objects from memory only! Moreover, he saw all 9 planets in that night! Congratulations!Read his report!
  George Robinson located 107 Messier Objects and all nine planets during the second night (March 25/26).
  Jane Hoston Jones reports that during the first night (March 24/25), she found 109 objects, missing only M30, and all nine planets.Read her report!

• Mike Connelley of theHIlo Astronomy Club undertook his second Messier Marathon on March 5-6, 2005 from the 9,300 ft. level of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Using a 12.5" f/6 dobsonian with 31mm Nagler eyepiece, he succeeded in observing 108 Messier objects, missing only M52 in the morning and M30 at sunrise.Read his report!
• Jon Zander ran his first personal Messier Marathon observing from Lunar Crater National Natural Landmark at 38:22:48.14 N, 116:03:53.94 W in central Nevada, USA, on March 11th/12th, 2005. As this was his first attempt at the Marathon, he thought he would give it a try after completing the Astronomical League's Binocular Messier Club/Phil Harrington's Star Watch in 2004. He observed 105 objects, missing M55, 75, 72, 73, and 30 due to the sunrise--those 'missing' later observed in June 2005. Jon used a modified Meade 12.5" f/4.8 Starfinder dobsonian.
• SWAP - Sky Watchers Association of Pune (India) members conducted their 2005 Messier Marathon on March 12-13, 2005, from two locations: Buttewadi and Girawali, 50 km and 90 km north of Pune (India) respectively. Many of the participants were doing "en masse" deep sky hunting for the first time. WinnerHarshad Abhyankar successfully observed 109 Messier Objects, missing only M30 in the morning. He also reported 40 NGC objects, thus again missing by one his personal goal to observe 150 objects.Read Harshad Abhyankar's report! Anyway, congratulations from here!
• TheTreasure Coast Astronomical Society (TCAS), Florida held its first annual Messier Marathon at the Kissimmee Prairie Perserve State Park, Kissimmee, Florida, on March 11-12, 2005. MarathonerSue Prill found 52 Messier Objects, whileDavid Brown andPatty Mayer observed a total of 58 in their very first Messier Marathon.Read their report!
• Mike Luckow of theBoulder Astronomy and Space Society (BASS) in Boulder, Colorado, attempted a first Messier Marathon at Cactus Flats North, about 35 miles east of Fort Collins, Colorado, on March 11-12, 2005, with Jim Adams and Dr. Shane Rea. Using a 12. Meade LX200GPS, they succeeded in viewing 106 of the Messier Objects, missing only M74, M72, M30, and M102 (which they reject and didn't look for). You can read his report!
• TheAstronomy Club of Tulsa and theTUVA Astronomy Club held their 2005 Messier Marathon on March 12-13, 2005 at TUVA Observatory, Council Hill, Oklahoma. Champion of this marathon turned out to be (again)Rod Gallagher who observed 105 Messier Objects, followed byDavid Stine (100, his best-ever),Tom McDonough (90; his first marathon), andSteve Chapman (86; his best). David Stine reports that TUVA memberNeta Apple, unable to attend that event, run her own Messier Marathon and achieved a score of 83.See some photos of this event by Steve Chapman, andRead David Stine's report!
• Fred Rains of theBirmingham Astronomical Society of Birmingham, Alabama attempted his 2005 Messier Marathon on March 12-13, 2005 from the BAS' club site on Chandler Mountain approximately 50 miles northeast of the city. Using a Celestron G9.25, he succeeded in hunting down 85 Messier Objects in this his first Messier Marathon.Read his report!
• TheAstronomical Society of Las Cruces, New Mexico, held its second Messier Marathon on March 12-13, 2005 at itsUpham observing site. They were joined by several members of theEl Paso Astronomy Club. The night started out windy, but was calm by midnight with just a few small scattered clouds. Five marathoners finished the night.Steve Barkes andJoseph Mancilla bagged 109 (all but M30) with their homemade 8" Dobs.Steve Smith andDave Dockery observed 108.Rich Richins used his C11 to find 104. Another dozen or so observers started the marathon and stayed for some portion of the night, but their final count is unknown.
• The2005 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored for the 13th time by theSaguaro Astronomy Club, and again organized byA.J. Crayon andJack Jones, was held in the night of March 12/13, 2005, once more at thesite south of Arizona City. This was one of the more successful ones when only 109 objects could be hunted down (M30 impossible at this early date). Of the about 110 people attending, 40 parties (or 46 people) participated in the Messier Marathon. 13 of them succeeded in finding all possible 109 Messier Objects, an additional 14 observing at least 100. A.J. Crayon has again contributeda great report of this event, anda detailed list of results; thanks! Also note SAC's 2005 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• Hrishikesh Joglekar undertook a Messier Marathon on March 13/14, 2005 from Kharagpur, India. He was successful in spotting 89 Messier Objects with his 4" Newtonian.
• Don Machholz undertook his 31st Messier Marathon on March 13/14, 2005, from Calfax, CA with his 6" reflector. From his memory only, he found 109 Messier Objects, which he logged onto an originally empty sheet of paper as he saw them, missing only M30.
• Jan Wisniewski missed the best date of this year due to bad weather in Ontario, and therefore, ran a marathon on March 19/20, 2005 from East Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada. As this date was so close to Full Moon (March 25), he found that it would be too difficult visually, and decided to run it with his Cookbook 245 CCD camera, on his 8-inch SCT, using a f/3.0 focal reducer. Despite problems with the bright moon and consequent delay, he successfully hunted down and photographed 106 Messier Objects, missing only M72, M73, M55, and M30. Without the delay, Jan thinks it had been possible to find M72, 73 and 55 also, and states that the CCD marathon was much more exhausting than a visual one.Read his report (containing a link to his CCD images)!
• Tom Hoffelder andDick Parker did a Messier Marathon on April 9/10, 2005 atAruna Hill in Massachusetts. Tom using his C14 and Dick his new 6" f/15 refractor, they did both find 103 Messier objects each, missing M74, 77, 79, 33, 32, 110 and 30.Read Tom's report!
• Willie Strickland of the Central Texas Astronomical Society and theAustin Astronomical Society made his first two attempts at the Messier Marathon from the observing field of theEagle Eye Observatory of the Austin Astronomical Society. Using his 10" Orion Dob, he logged a total of 80 Messier Objects on the first occasion on April 7/8 despite several inconveniences during that night. On the second occasion, on April 11/12, 2005, Willie was successfully observing 107 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M77 and M33 in the evening. He used the occasion to find M31, M32 and M110 in the morning after having missed them in the evening.Read his report!

• The2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 14th time), was held in the night of the weekend of March 25/26, 2006 at thesite south of Arizona City. Unfortunately, organizer A.J. Crayon could not attend the marathon this time. Also unfortunately, weather (in particular evening clouds) did prevent participants from achieving the full score this time. Best result was 108 Messier Objects observed, achieved by bothLarry Brown andKeith Schlottman. 3 people observed 107 each, 4 saw 106, another 5 observers saw 105 Messier Objects (so a total of 14 achieved the 105 mark), and a total of 24 reporting observers have achieved 100.Don Machholz, who attended the Arizona Messier Marathon for the first time and located 102 objects, again did it from memory alone. 54 result reports were turned in; congratulations to all and thanks for contributing!A.J. Crayon, despite missing the event, has created and turned in again agreat report and the detailed 2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, thanks! Also noteour collection of participants' reports, have a look at SAC's preliminary list of 2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results, and note participator Jeremy Perez' report as well asAndrew Cooper's report!
• A.J. Crayon also reports that a day before the All Arizona Messier Marathon, on Friday March 24 to Saturday March 25, 2006, a couple of observers had already found together at the Arizona City site to run a Messier Marathon. Amongst them,Steve Gifford imaged 99 Messier Objects, andSteve Jaynes found 109, missing only M31. Don Machholz was also there at that time to achieve a full 110, see below.
• Paul Clark reports his second successful 110 object Messier Marathon, achieved during the night of March 24/25, again (as in 2004) from 2000m on the slopes of Mt. Tiede, Tenerife, Canary Isleands. He used a 60mm Borg refractor. Congratulations!Read his report!
• TheKutch Astronomy Club held their their first Messier Marathon this year from a site 10km south-west of Bhuj city in the Kutch District, Gujarat State, India (23:18N, 69:42E) on March 25/26, 2006, using their two 6-inch telescopes and binoculars. In their first attempt, they were successful in locating 94 Messier Objects. Participants wereRahul Zota,Prashany Shah,Nishant Gor,Gunjan Doshi,Parth Chudasama,Ashwin Vagela,Harish Vaghela andNarendra Gor.Read Narenda's report!
• Jane Houston Jones andMorris Jones completed two Messier Marathons on March 25/26 and April 1/2, 2006 from Red Cloud Road near Joshua Tree National Park, CA (Lat 33 Long 115 elev 1495 feet). On March 25/26, 2006, using an 80mm Orion short-tube refractor, a 17.5" f/4.5 and a 14.5" Litebox reflector, they successfully observed 104 Messier objects, missing M77 from clouds at dusk and M55, M2, M72, M73, and M30 due to clouds at dawn. On April 1-2, using a 12.5-inch and a 14.5-inch Litebox reflector, they successfully observed 109 Messier objects, missing only M74. In addition, Jane observed 90 lunar features on the 4 day old vaxing crescent moon, comets C/2006 A1 Pojmanski and 7P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, 13 moons and for planets for a "Solar System Marathon" total of 109.Read her report!
• Art Fritzson undertook his 2006 Messier Marathon on March 25/26 from a dark site about an hour west of Washington, DC, a place called Camp High Road, and one ofNorthern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) sites. Using his Garrett 25x100 and his C102 and 7mm Nagler, he successfully observed 104 Messier Objects, missing only M33, M55, M75, M72, M73, and M30. M74 and M76 could be seen only in the C102, not the Garretts.Read his report, or see his summary posting or detailed report at CloudyNights website.
• Robert Burgess of Terrace Observatory (43.9N 78.9W) attempted his 2006 Messier Marathon on March 25/26 and tried to image as many Messier Objects as possible, ending up with the considerable number of 59 successfully imaged objects. Details and images are available onhis website.
• C. E. Steuart Dewar andKelly Maneyapanda did their first Messier Marathon this year, on March 26/27, 2006, from Gorilla Have, GA. Using a pair of Miyauchi Saturn III binoculars (39x100) and a C9.25 scope, they found 104 Messier Objects, missing only M77, M74, and M33 in the evening and M72, M73 and M30 in the morning.Read their report, or their posting at Cloudy Nights website!
• TheMoncton Centre's William Brydone Jack Unit held a marathon on the Dorn Ridge, about 25 miles northwest of Fredericton, NewBrunswick, Canada on March 27/28.Donald Kelly found 103 objects only 3 weeks after getting his first telescope, a 10-inch dob, missing only M79, M83, M6, M73, M75, M55 and M30.Ted Dunphy found 108 with his 10-inch dob, missing M75 and M30, whilePaul Gray observed 109 with his 12.5-inch dob, missing M30 only.Read Paul's report!
• SWAP (Sky Watchers' Association of Pune) conducted the 2006 Messier Marathon from Girawali, 90 km north of Pune, India. About 10 people participated. Top scores:Adwait Bhagwat (77) with 20x60 binocs, andRahul Sangole (72) with 6" f7.5 Newtonian.Read Harshad Abhyankar's results report!
• Don Machholz did three Messier Marathons in late March 2006, using his 6" (15 cm) f/8 reflector at about 38x. He did all three marathons from memory again, starting with a sheet of paper with 110 numbered, empty lines and filling in the objects in the order he found them. On Thursday-Friday, March 23-24, 2006, from Red Cloud Road south of Joshua Trees Park, California, he found all 110 objects. The following night, Friday-Saturday, March 24-25, 2006, Don again hunted down the full lot, this time from the Arizona Messier Marathon site in Arizona City, AZ. Finally, on Saturday/Sunday, March 25/26, 2006, Don participated in the 2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon, and successfully found 102 objects from memory, missing M74, M33, M31, M32, and M110 in the evening as well as M72, M73, and M30 in the morning, all due to clouds. Congratulations for this great achievement!Read his report!
• Don Machholz also reports that in the night of March 24-25, 2006, he was accompanied byGeorge Robinson, who found 106 objects, missing M72, M73, M75, and M30. George used a 10" reflector and star maps.
• Willie Strickland of the Central Texas Observatory and Austin Astronomical Society undertook his 2006 Messier Marathon on March 25/26, 2006 from the observing field at the Turner Research Station of the Central Texas Astronomical Society, near theirPaul J. Meyer Observatory at 31.6816 N, 97.67463 W. He used a 10" Orion Dob and Pennington's Messier Marathon book in addition to Equinox planetarium software and Astroplanner to record the observations. During this night, he successfully hunted down 106 Messier objects, missing only M77, M74 and M33 in the evening, and M30 in the morning.Read his report!
• TheTUVA Astronomy Club attempted their Messier Marathon 2006 at TUVA Observatory, Oklahoma on April 1, 2006. Unfortunately, this event turned out to be a long wait for clouds to disappear. After everyone had set up under complete clouded skies, all they could do was hope for a break. There were very few breaks in the clouds and probably the most objects anyone found were 10 that night. After about Midnight it became pretty obvious that this years Marathon was over and most observers were packing up and heading for home. A few die hard marathoners stuck it out until around 2a.m. but even they finally threw in the towel. All they could do was hope for a better 2007 marathon. View a few pictures of this event!
• TheNortheast Florida Astronomical Society (NEFAS) held a successful 2006 Messier Marathon. Five observers successfully hunted down 110 objects:Dennis O'Day,Dave Crum,Mike Rosset,Lela Rosset, andMike Ramirez who did itfrom memory. Congratulations!
• Hrishikesh Joglekar undertook a Messier Marathon on March 25/26, 2006 from Vangani, India. With his 5" Newtonian, he found 102 Messier Objects.
• Astronomy Adventures, New Zealand held their first Annual Messier Marathon on Friday, April 21, 2006 from the site of Sky dome observatory, Baylys Beach near Dargaville, Northland, New Zealand.Read Deborah Hambly's report! (also available with images on the Astronomy Adventures site)

• Joe Cambala found all 109 Messier objects he looked for, plus Omega Centauri which he substituted for M102, from Fakahatchee Strand State Park in Florida on March 17/18, 2007 using a 15" f/5 DOB.
• Steuart Dewar andKelly Maneyapanda did their 2007 Messier Marathon on March 17/18, 2007 from Gorilla Haven in Morganton, GA. They succeeded in finding 109 Messier Objects, missing only M30, which was virtually impossible at their latitude of 35deg N, and this despite a period of about 4 1/2 hours with overcast skies. They used a Miyauchi Saturn III Binoculars (39x100). Read their report!
• "Akash Mitra" from Pune, India conducted the 2007 Messier Marathon from Pokhri, about 125 km north of Pune, on 17-18 March. Evening haze on the western horizon and massive clouds in in the later evening caused the missing of several evening objects. Eventually,Harshad Abhyankar was successhul in finding 108 objects (missing only M74 and M110),Kshitija Kelkar got 82 in her first Messier Marathon attempt, and the other three participants scored as follows:Adwait Bhagwat: 61,Tushar Purohit: 65, andAbha Vaishampayan: 79. Tushar and Adwait had 20x80 binoculars, the others observed with 5" to 6" Newtonians.Read Harshad Abhyankar's results report!
• TheSociedad Astronomica Queretana (SAQ) was hosting a Messier Marathon on March 17/18, 2007 in Queretaro, about 210 km north of Mexico City. 80 observers attended.Guillermo Molina Pérez andEduardo Pina Mendoza found 107 Messier Objectsfrom memory only; congratulations! They aere missing M74 and M33 and not looking for M102. Four observers located 102 objects:Gabriela Berenice Díaz Cortés,Omar Díaz Cortés,José de Jesús Munoz Gonz´lez, andOctavio A. Flores Escalante.
• TheBangalore Astronomical Society (BAS) of Bangalore, India held their first Messier Marathon from a site 70 km north of Bangalore at Hosahalli village where the sky is very dark but horizons are slightly obstructed. This site is at latitude 13deg N. Originally scheduled and announced at reverse dates, the two sessions occurred as follows: On a first run on March 15-16, 2007, observerAmar A. Sharma was alone and used an 8" f/8 equatorial telescope plus 10x50 binoculars to finally find 101 Messier objects: Amar has provided a report of his first 2007 Messier Marathon attempt. Four observers took part in their second 2007 Messier Marathon on March 17-18:Naveen Nanjundappa observer 68 objects with his 5" Celestron scope at his first-ever marathon attempt; 13-year-oldChetan Reddy found 56 Messier Objects with an 8" f/8 equatorial telescope,Akarsh Simha found 97 Messier Objects in his first attemptfrom memory only, andAmar A. Sharma hunted down 100 Messiers.Read Amar's report!
• The2007 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 15th time), was held in the night of the weekend of March 17/18, 2007 at thesite south of Arizona City. With weather improving as evening approached, this became a record setting marathon in some respects: 85 vehicles with about 140 people (plus one dog) were counted, and a record number of 61 participating observers turned in their lists. As this was difficult to achieve this time, only one observer,Frank Pino, succeeded in observing all 110 objects, congratulations! Difficult M30 was also found by a second observer,Butch Miller, who had unfortunately missed M74 in the evening. A total of 19 observers succeeded in finding 109, 13 more found 108, one 107, three 106, and six more found at least 100, so a total of 43 who found 100 or more.George Robinson from Auburn, California found 109from memory only. Youngest marathoner this time was 8-year-oldJacob Sikes, together with his 11-year-old brotherRyan Sikes and 12-year-oldDaniel Butters.Al Stiewing, besides observing 109 objects visually, also managed to image 108 (missing M103 in addition to M30 here). Once again,A.J. Crayon has provided agreat report and thedetailed 2007 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, thanks! Also note SAC's 2007 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• TheNortheast Florida Astronomical Society (NEFAS) held their 2007 Messier Marathon on March 17/18, 2007. Four observers successfully hunted down all 110 Messier Objects:Dennis O'Day,Dave Crum,Mike Rosset, andLela Rosset. Congratulations!Read their report forum, andview some pictures from their event!
• TheTUVA Astronomy Club held their 2007 Messier Marathon at TUVA Observatory site outside Council Hill, Oklahoma. This year, a record of 30-40 people attended. In the evening, some observers found the typically difficult objects M74 and M77 quite easy, and the group observed an Iridium Flare at 9:28 p.m. Eventually, a group of 8 observers made it through the whole night. Highest score was achieved by two observers,Tony White andSteve Chapman who found 105 objects each, missing only the late morning objects M72, M73, M30, M55, and M75, and who were granted this year's David Stine Award. Third place went toDavid Stine who found 103, missing M74 and M77 in the evening in addition to the previoously mentioned morning objects, followed byAnn Bruun with 102, to make a total of four observers with more than 100. Three more achieved more than 90:Denny Mishler found 99 with his big binoculars,John Land in his first-ever marathon also found 99, andTamara Owens found 91. Eventually,Bob Boston finished out the group with 32.Look at some pictures by John Land, andread David Stine's report!
• Gábor Sánta from Szeged, Hungary and his friendsBalázs Csák andJános Kernya tried to observe all 110 Messier Objects on March 16/17, 2007 from Patca, Hungary, which lies among hills and is one of the darkest sites in this country. The could easily see M74 and M77, but had difficulties in the morning with M69, 70, 54 and M2 due to their northern location. They eventually missed M30, M55, M72, M73 and M75, making a total of 105 Messier Objects observed.

  Gábor Sánta andBalázs Csák repeated their Messier Marathon attempt on April 13/14, 2007 from Öttörnös Hungary (in the Southern Great Plains). Same didJános Kernya from Sükösd, Hungary. This time, they were able to find 106 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M77, M79, and M30.

• Jane Houston Jones andMorris "Mojo" Jones did their 2007 Messier Marathon on March 17/18, 2007 from Red Cloud Road off the I-10 freeway, California (Latitude 33N, Longitude 115W). Both were using Dobsonians built byLitebox Telescopes, Jane using a 17.5" f/4.5, Mojo a 14.5" f/4.8 telescope. Eventually, both hunted down 109 Messier Objects (all but M30), also observing as a bonus the Zodiacal Light, Canopus, Omega Centauri, several galaxy groups, and others.Read Jane's report, orview a couple of pictures from this event!
• The Sedona Astronomy Club "Sirius Lookers" hosted a Messier Marathon at their Two Trees location. On Friday night, 3/16/07,Geoff Babcock with his 12.5" Starmaster Dob. andAdam Bloomer with his 14.5" Starmaster Dob. completed the Marathon both finding 109 objects, both missing M30.
• Jon Zander undertook the 2007 Messier Marathon from the Mid Hills campground in theMojave National Preserve, at position 35:07:52.84 N, 115:26:07.67 W in southeast California, USA, on March 19/20th, 2007. By this time he had been finishing his third tour through the Messier List, once with the Orion/Vixen 30x80 binoculars he used in 2004, and twice with the Meade 12.5" f/4.8 Starfinder Dobsonian (2005 Marathon and a slower two year tour through 2005/2006). This time preparations were much more extensive. He had bought and read Don Machholz's The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon from cover to cover, and used Google Earth to select a more southern observing site. He also prepared a chart via Starry Night v.4.5.2 software for every object, printing them out with Telrad circles around every object and putting them into a 3-ring binder in observing order--this proved to be an excellent simulated rehearsal! He had also built a rig to fit his KonusMotor 500 4.5" f/4.4 reflector on top of my heavily modified Starfinder dobsonian, so he could have wide-field views to complement the views through the larger reflector. The Konus was a tremendous aid in finding the objects, when he was able to use it (see the report below). Eventually, Jon hunted down all 110 Messier Objects in this his second Messier Marathon attempt. Congratulations! Read his report posted to forum, orRead his report here!
• TheRaleigh Astronomy Club (NC) held their 2007 Messier Marathon at the Johnston County Community College Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center on March 17. Sky conditions were clear with seeing a bit off due to wind. Overnight temperatures were near freezing. About 20 individuals showed up for viewing with 6 staying all night to "run" a full marathon.Brian Reasor logged 96 objects using an Orion 12" XT Dob.Dan Lamson andDarice Frey viewed 98 using a homebuilt scope.Pat Moore viewed about 105 using a Starsplitter 16" Dob.Jon Messick viewed 107 using an Obsession 20" Dob.Ian Hewitt viewed 107 using a Meade SCT.
• TheSan Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA) held their 2007 SFAA Messier Marathon on March 17-18, 2007 at Mount Tamalpais State Park in Marin County, CA. As a highlight, participants experienced an apparition of Monsieur Charles Messier (actually Ken Frank dressed in Messier outfit).Michael Portuesi hunted down 59 M objects before ending his tour at 2 am, because of upcoming fog and wind. Read Michael Portuesi's report!
• Chris Anderson and the amateurs of theCentennial Observatory, Twin Falls, Idaho bagged 109 Messier objects during their Messier Marathon on March 23/24, missing M30 in the morning twilight.
• TheAgrupacion Astronomica de Cadiz "Hercules" held their 2007 Messier Marathon on March 10 and March 17. The winner wasPaco Fernandez who successfully observed 102 objects with a 102mm f/5 refractor.
• Steve Condrey, ofOrange County (CA) Astronomers (OCA), observed 103 Messier Objects from Anza, CA during his first ever Messier Marathon, on March 17-18, 2007. He used an Orion 10-inch f/4.7 Newtonian telescope with 35mm 2-inch eyepiece (no GOTO system - starhopping and atlas only!). Six of the objects were not located due to poor planning early in the marathon, however: M77, M74, M31, M32, M110, and M79, as well as the seventh in further course, M108. Given the conditions at that timeand place, the latter two objects may have been beyond the capability of his instrument.
• Don Machholz ran two Messieer Marathons in March 2007, using his 6" reflector. The first run occurred on March 16/17, in Colfax, CA, when he succeeded in finding 109 Messier Objects (all but M30)from memory only, using a checklist. The second session, on March 23/24, 2007, from Dutch Flat, CA, was impacted by clouds. Still, from memory only, Don could find 100 objects, missing M77, M74, M33, M31, M32, M110, M55, M72, M73, and M30.
• Hrishikesh Joglekar undertook a Messier Marathon from Hyderabad, India on March 15/16, 2007. With hist 5" Noewtonian, he was successful to hunt down 76 Messier Objects.

• At an unsusual date, on August 12/13, 2007,Don Machholz undertook another Messier Marathon session from Dutch Flat, CA. With clouds effecting the first part of the evening, he was able to locate 85 objects.

• Timo Karhula performed his first Messier Marathon ever during the night of March 6-7, 2008 from the small village Virsbo 150 km NW of Stockholm, Sweden; geographical coordinates: latitude +59d 52', longitude +16d 05'. Timo is not aware of any previous serious Messier Marathon attempts from Scandinavia. He used binoculars only, namely 4 instruments: 25x100, 18x50, 7x50, and 8x20. Mixing the marathon with a test for small instrument visibility, he was able to log 83 Messier objects during 10 hours and 39 minutes that night, 79 of them were seen with at most 7x50 handheld binoculars also. He also observed three comets in binoculars within 5 minutes (46P/Wirtanen, C/2008C1 Chen-Gao, and 17P/Holmes) since they were in the same general direction in Taurus and Perseus.Read his report!
• Jon Zander did a Messier Marathon on March 8-9, 2008. Again, he did it from the Mid Hills Campground in the Mojave National Preserve, California, USA. Using only 30x80 binoculars with a Telrad, he found 109 objects. He only missed M30 due to the sunrise (which was expected for doing this so early in March). Very cold wind added to the challenge this year.
• Carl Soderland andLarry Cotton participated in the 2008 Messier Marathon in Houston, Texas on 3/08/08 at Brazos Bend State Park. The weather was cool and very dry (for Houston). They started off very well capturing the first objects when it got dark. Around 1:45 pm, there was a lull for one hour while the Summer sky came up. At 3:00 am, they worked until 5:30 and finished finding all the objects on our list except the last four. They were in the sky but it was too light to find them. They tried but just could not see them even when they thought they were "there". They immediately packed up and drove home. On the way, the clouds started coming in. Amazing timing! It was a great experience. It was Larry's second time he ran the marathon and Carl's first.
• TheNortheast Florida Astronomical Society (NEFAS) held their 2008 Messier Marathon on March 8-9, 2008 at Jacksonville, Florida.Dennis O'Day used a 10" Dobson to hunt down 109 Messier Objects, and also found 92 in his 15x70 binoculars, missing only M30 which didn't rise above horizon.David Crum found 70 with his 16" Dobson.Mike Ramirez found a total of 79 objects, 14 in his 10" Dobson and 65 with a 15x50 binoculars, all before midnight, from memory only using neither any lists nor any charts.Robert Bird observed 104 objects with his 12" LX200 scope (missed M2, M15, M72, M73, M30 and M75) and 25 with a 12x50 binocs.Ted Treiber found 28 objects with his 100mm refractor and 20 objects with 15x70 binocs.Tom Pierson achieved a score of 70 objects with 8" Newtonian, andStephen Peacock observed 13 objects with a 10" Dobsonian telescope.Read Dennis' report!
• TheAkashmitra Association, India, conducted the Messier Marathon of 2008 on 08-09 March, from Saybachi Wadi near Baramati, about 85 km south-east of Pune. With a slight haze all around, the following results were achieved:Kanad Mandke: 83,Jayesh Mutha: 72,Abha Vaishampayan: 64,Tushar Purohit: 56,Alok Deshpande: 45.Dr.Vishwanath Jigjinni,Dr.Neelima Thatte andKshitija Kelkar spotted about 60 objects each.Read Harshad Abhyankar's report!
• János Gábor Kernya from Sükösd, Hungary did his Messier Marathon 2008 from Sükösd on March 30/31. He found 108 objects, missing only M74 in the evening and M30 in the morning. He used an Orion 80/600 ED and a 305/1525 Dobson telesope.
• The2008 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 16th time), was held in the night of the weekend of April 5/6, 2008 at thesite south of Arizona City. 51 participants have turned in their results. This time, it turned out that one observer,Dr. S. Aguirre of the Sociedad Astronomica de Sonora Carl Sagan, Mexico, landed in the first place by observing 109 Messier objects, missing only M74 in the evening, three observers/teams (Jeff andJulie Trogan,Ken Shaver, andGeorge Robinson) found 108 - missing M74 and M77 or M74 and M33, repectively, and 13 observers got the third place with 107 - missing M74, M77 and M33. Moreover, 11 observers found 106 objects, and 9 more saw at least 100.Rick Tejera has written up this year's 2008 All Arizona Messier Marathon report, andA.J. Crayon has provided thedetailed 2008 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, thanks! Also note SAC's 2008 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• Tom Hoffelder undertook a Messier Marathon on April 8/9, 2008 from New England. He managed to find 99 Messier objects, missing M77, M74, M79, M31, M32, M33 and M110 in the evening, and M55, M75, M73 and M30 in the morning skies. As he had caught up with the sky at 1:00 a.m., and only a few miles from home, he took a nap of 3 hours at home before completing this run.
• Michael Lucas, after 25 years of amateur astronomy, finally attempted his first Messier Marathon. On the night of March 8/9, 2008, from Fakahatchee Strand State Park, Florida, he observed 106 Messier objects between (March 9) 00:03 UT (M45) and 10:33 UT (M2), using a 4-inch (110 mm) reflector with a 6x30 finder. He missed M74 in the evening - probably because his telescope was not large enough - and M72, M73, and M30 in the morning.
• Don Machholz did another Messier Marathon session on March 24/25, 2008 from Dutch Flat, CA with his 6" reflector. With clouds affecting the morning part of the session, he hunted down 97 Messier objects.

• At another unusual date, October 25/26, 2008,Don Machholz attempted another marathon from Dutch Flat, CA with his 6" reflector. He observed 105 Messier Objects, missing only M80, M4, M83, M68, and M104. A remarkable result for the unusual date!

• Stephan Lalonde of theOttawa Valley Astronomy and Observers Group (OAOG), Ottawa Canada, undertook his first Messier Marathon on March 20-21, 2009, and was able to capture every object except M30 due to latitude of 45.5N. Results can be seen on his webpage. Scope used was 8 inch SCT on EQ mount, with a MallinCan Hyper Plus Color Video Camera and a 3.3 focal reducer. The attached MallinCam camera was used to obtain a 14-second exposure of each object during the marathon!
• Andrew Cooper and his wife,Deborah Cooper ran a Messier Marathon from 9,200ft on the side of Mauna Kea Friday night (March 27/28, 2009). Clouds were some trouble and the mountian itself blocked a few of the evening objects, but Andrew got 104 and Deb 103 with perfect runs into the morning. Andrew had used his 6-inch f/5 Newtonian, Deb her NexStar 11-inch SCT. Two other participants,Clifford Livermore (24-inch) andJoe Hannan (12.5" Portaball Newtonian telescope), observed many objects but didn't get a final count. A total of ten observers withstood the cold to the end: Besides those already mentioned, these includeDayana Cardoso,Njugu Gachigu,Frosty Hughes,Callie McNew,Ricky Ormiston, andNathan Secrest.This event had been sponsored by theMauna Kea Visitor Information Station. Read Andrew's full write-up!
• TheAkashmitra Association, India, conducted the Messier Marathon of 2009 on 21-22 March, from Pokhri near Bhimashankar, about 105 km north of Pune. This being the same site as in 2007, some new lights of Pokhri were spoiling the western horizon, but absolutely no clouds this time! They missed a few evening objects, but the rest of the sequence was a breeze till they encountered the Moon near M72-73. Eventually,Harshad Abhyankar (4.5" Newton) saw 105 Messier Objects - missed M110, M74, M72, M73, and M52, but also spotted 74 other NGC objects for a night's total of 179 objects.Jayesh Mutha (6" Newton) found 102,Kshitija Kelkar (4.5" Newton): 101,Dr.Vishwanath Jigjinni (8" SC): 91,Abha Vaishampayan (6" Newton): 84 (also spotted 15 other NGCs), and the team formed byAkshay Soman,Kabir Sahane,Sumedh Kulkarni andZameer Khan (sharing two scopes of 4" and 6" during their first marathon) observed 55.Read Harshad's report!
• George Gilbart-Smith, a retired teacher from Tonbridge, England, ran a Marathon on the night of 21-22 March from a sand dune at Bir Wahid, near Siwa, Egypt, assisted and monitored byJulian Lush andIan Macartney. Working under exceptionally dark and clear skies, and from latitude 29.1d N, he successfully viewed all 110 Messier objects through 12X80 Vixen binoculars alt-az mounted on a Cobra 75 tripod. Congratulations! This is the first complete Messier Marathon from the continent of Africa!
• Tom Hoffelder,Dick Parker,Julian Shull, andCharles Wilson held a 2009 Messier Marathon in Tolland, CT on March 24/25. Dick used his 8-inch f/8 Newton, Tom his wife's 8-inch f/6 Newton, and Julian and Charles shared the 10-inch f/5.2 Dobson owned by Julian. From Connecticut, they achieved considerale results: Dick saw 103 objects, missing M74 and M77 in the evening as well as M2, M30, M55, M72 and M73 in the morning; Tom achieved 101, missing also M54 and M75; Julian in his first-ever marathon, together with Charles, achieved 98, and additionally did not find M83, M102 and M15. Tom had also set up his 16-inch f/6 Dob for other observations including M42, Comet Lulin, M13, Jupiter's Ghost and NGC 5907.Read Tom's report!
• Gordon Pegue ofThe Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) ran his Messier Marathon 2009 in the night of March 27/28, from theGeneral Nathan Twining Observatory (GNTO) south of Albuquerque, New Mexico with his 18" UltraCompact telescope. He successfully cracked the 110 Messier Object barrier, after 18 years of Messier Marathon experience eventually. Congratulations! Gordon also observed 60 more galaxies, including 30 Arp objects, to bag a total of 170 objects.Read his report!
• At TheAstronomical Society of Las Cruces, NM, 2009 Messier Marathon, held on March 28/29, 2009, four individuals observed all 110 Messier Objects:Steve Barkes,Steve Smith,Jerry Gaber andJoseph Mancilla. Another individual (Richard Richins) imaged them all,see images. Around a dozen of astronomers had participated in this event.
• Don Machholz undertook 3 further Messier Marathons this year, 2009: The first session, on March 26/27, from a site near Joshua Tree, CA, he used his 6" Newtonian to observe 109 Messier Objects, missing only M74. The second attempt was made the next day, March 27/28, from the site of the Arizona Messier Marathon,again from memory. He repeated his result of 109, again missing M74, as the day before. The consequent day, which was the 2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon on March 28/29, he succeeded to find all 110! Congratulations! That was his 42nd Messier Marathon.
• The2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 17th time), was held in the night of the weekend of March 28/29, 2009 at thesite south of Arizona City. About 25 vehicles showed up Friday afternoon, the day before Marathon date, to do some training that night before. On Saturday evening, about 90 vehicles were counted, 140 folks estimated in attendance. It turned out that on this date, M74 was the most difficult object. By the morning, a total of 5 1/2 observers had seen all 110 Messier Objects:David M Douglass with his 8-inch SCT who had also imaged all objects,Don Machholz (6" Newton) on his 42nd Messier Marathon, once more all from memory,Frank Pino (8" SCT),George J Robinson (10" Dobsonian, all by memory), andRick Tejera (8" Dobson) clearly saw all 110. The 1/2 success was granted toJimmy Ray (11" SCT), who first reported a full score but later decided he could not be sure he saw M74, so gets the 1/2 Object for Honesty! (In the "official" counting, we grant to him the full object for having a definitive statistics, and include him in the"Hall of Fame"). In addition to these six, 5 observers found 109, 3 more 108. A total of 27 observers reported to have seen 100 or more objects, with a total of 42 having turned in checklists with at least 50. Congratulations to all for these great successes! With chief organizerA.J. Crayon physically missing this time,Rick Tejera has again provided this year's 2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon report, and provided the detailed2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, thanks! Also note SAC's 2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• During the2009 All Arizona Messier Marathon on March 28/29 fromthe site near Arizona City,Jeremy Perez successfully hunted down 104 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M32 and M110 in the evening due to twilight and light pollution by the city of Phoenix, and M72, M73 and M30 in the morning due to clouds. He used an Orion SkyView Pro 6LT (6" f/8 Equatorial Newtonian); star cloud M24 was observed with 15x70 Oberwerks binoculars. Besides finding the objects, he created sketch drawings of most of them, a total of over 100 sketches! These may be viewed viahis Messier Marathon 2009 webpage.Read his report!
• TheEncuentro Observacional de Astronomia (Encounter Observational of Astronmy) star party of South Mendocino, in Valle Grabde, San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina was organized during the days of April 24, 25, and 26, 2009, see web report. During this event, the first serious Messier Marathon of Argentina was realised. The winners of this marathon were:Rodolfo Ferraiuolo found 82 using a 7x50 binoculars and a 5" SCT starting with M41,Marcelo Garcia found 66 using a Celestron Nextstar of 5" aperture, andEnzo De Bernardini found 48 with 15x70 binoculars beginning with M41. Observing possibilities had been limited by mountains on the horizon.
• Tom Hoffelder ran two additional "late" Messier Marathons, after the one on March 24/25, on April 23/24 and April 27/28, 2009. During the first of these nights, he again used the 8" f/6 Newton, and found 106 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M77, M79, and M33. Objects normally found in the evening that were instead seen in the morning were M31, M32, M110 and M76. 106 is his new record from New England!
  During the second April night, using the same Newtonian plus a C14, Tom found 104 objects, missing the same four as above plus M43 and M78 that fell victim to haze and moonlight. In addition to those above, also M34 was found in the morning instead of the evening. With this third one, Tom set a new personal record of three marathons in a year, congratulations!
  Read Tom's report!

• The2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 18th time), was held in the night of the weekend of March 13/14, 2010 at thesite south of Arizona City. There was a fairly high participation, probably due to the clear weather after months of precipition. Attendants came from all Arizona and beyond, notably Mexico, British Columbia (Canada), NY, WA, CA, and NM. Several family units were ovserving together, with father/daughter, father/son and grandfather/grandson/granddaughter pairs. It turned out that M30 was impossible at this early date, and also M74 and M72 challenging for many observers. In the end, the large number of 17 observers reached the first place and found 109 objects, missing only M30, notablyGeorge Robinson from Auburn, CA who did it from memory only - so a successful "MMM" (Messier Marathon from Memory only). Co-organizerRick Tejera achieved the 109 with the smallest scope, a 60mm ETX. Another 5 observers saw 108 objects, missing either M74 or M72 in addition to M30. Three more bagged 107, and together with three others, it was 28 who found at least 100, with a total of 38 having turned in checklists with at least 50. Congratulations to all for these great successes!A.J. Crayon has again provided this year's 2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon report, and provided the detailed2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, thanks! Also note SAC's 2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report. Also note, below, seperate report from paticipantSid Leach (109).
• Sid Leach attended the2010 All Arizona Messier Marathon on March 13/14, 2010, and eventually, hunted down 109 Messier Objects, missing only M30, which was not possible for him. He used his 14-1/2 inch f4.3 Dob with go-to-then-track drive system. Besides the Messier Objects, he saw a considerable number of more deepsky objects from the NGC, including about 35 more Virgo Cluster galaxies.Read his report, andnote his list of Messier object photos!
• Ed Kotapish ran a Messier Marathon on March 13-14, 2010 from Lipan, TX, theLipan Astronomy and Space Society (LASS) observing site. With a 4.5in SkyQuest Dobsonian, he observed 106 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M72, M73, and M30. His first object was M77 at 19:36 CST, last M15 at 06:47 CDT. He struggled with M72 and M73, even though he had plenty of time to spot them. M30 was impossible. No clouds, no wind, no bugs ..
• Don Machholz undertook his personal Messier Marathon No. 43, on March 13/14, 2010, once more from Colfax, CA, using his 6" Nowtonian. From memory only, he found 109 Messier Objects, missing only M30.
• Paolo Beradi andGiuseppe Di Carlo ran a photographic Messier Marathon on March 14/15 from L'Aquila in central Italy (42.3d N, 13.3d E). Using a 5" SC telescope, go-to equatorial wedge and CCD camera, they obtained a CCD image of each Messier Object observed, with exposure times between 1 and 6 minutes (only M78 was 32 minutes). Eventually, they successfully hunted down 108 Messier Objects, missing only M55 (behind trees) and M30 (the latter being 3deg below horizon at their finish at 05:27 a.m.).Read Paolo's report, andSee their photographic results!
• Joe Stieber of Maple Shade, NJ undertook the effort to run a Messier Marathon on March 17-18, 2010 from Coyle Field in the New Jersey Pinelands, about 40.5 miles (65 km) east of center-city Philadelphia, PA (USA), considerably good site for deepsky observing. Using his 12.5-inch Newtownian on Dobson mount, he was able to see 103 Messier objects, missing only M74 in the evening as well as M55, M75, M2, M72, M73 and M30 in the morning;see his tabulation record (local copy). He also observed two comets, 81P/Wild and C/2009 K5 (McNaught).Read his report!
• Grant Martin ran a Messier Marathon on March 17/18 from the Broemmelsiek Park Astronomy Site (90.815W, 38.723N) about 25 miles west of St Charles and 45 miles West of St. Louis, Missouri, using the newly installed 16" f/5 AltAz reflector. He successfully hunted down 106 Messier Objects, missing only M55, M72, M73, and M30 which were lost in the light domes of the cities of St Charles and St Louis.Read his report!
• The Virtual Telescope project has set up and run an online Messier Marathon 2010 on April 5, 2010. Users of that site could follow the marathon live and online.
• Tom Hoffelder andDick Parker did a Messier Marathon from Sunday evening (April 11) through Monday morning (April 12) from Tolland, CT. They used three instruments: A 4.5 inch refractor (STM RIG project, Dick's primary telescope), an 8 inch f/6 Newtonian (Tom's primary) and a 6 inch refractor by Carl Koplan (who was short visitor but not marathoning). Tom was able to locate 105 of the objects, missing M74, 77, 79, 30 and 33. M79 probably would have been observable except for obstructing trees. (CT has way too many of them!) His first object viewed was the Orion Nebula at 20:15 EDT (nautical twilight ended 20:28), and the last was M110 at 04:52 (nautical twilight started 05:10), also observed Mercury and two comets. Dick observed 94 Messier Objects with the 4.5-inch before concluding the marathon early in the morning. He found all the galaxies in the Leo and Virgo region with the 4.5-inch, including NGC 4394 near M85, and also the planetary nebula NGC 2438 in M46.Read Tom Hoffelder's and Dick Parker's reports!
• Tom Hoffelder did his second run of the Messier Marathon this year on April 14/15, again from the same site in Tolland, CT, also on the occasion of celebrating his birthday. He was missing the same five objects again, M74, 77, 79, 30 and 33, observing 105 again, and suspecting he could perhaps have done M79 and M30 if he had a lower horizon in those directions. Congratulations Tom! (both for the success and the birthday!)
• Hrishikesh Joglekar undertook a Messier Marathon on March 13/14, 2010 from Vangani, India. With hist 5" Newtonian, he successfully found 82 Messier Objects.
• Mathew Wedel did an early Messier Marathon this year on February 13/14 from the Salton Sea, California. He found 98 objects using a 6-inch Dob and 15x70 binocular. See his report!
• Bangalore Astronomical Society, an astronomy club based in Bangalore, India conducted a Messier Marathon on the night of 13th March 2010 at a nearby town of Koratagere. Six people participated.Madan Kumar observed about 25 with 10x50 binoculars.Rakesh Nath observed around 55 with 10x50 binoculars.Achyut Jamadagni observed 57 objects with 20x80 binoculars.Keerthi Kiran scored 95 with an 8" f/8 telescope.Amar A. Sharma observed 100 Messier objects and 30 other objects using only 25x100 binoculars.Akarsh Simha used a 17.5" f/5 telescope as well as binoculars to observe 105 Messier objects entirely from memory and an additional 105 non-Messier objects either from memory or identified in the field. Amar's account may be foundhere. Akarsh's account may be foundhere.

• Timo Karhula performed a Messier Marathon on March 5/6, 2011 from Virsbo, 150 kms NW of Stockholm, Sweden. After finding the very new moon (20h 36m), he successfully hunted down 88 Messier objects with at most 25x100 binoculars. This is a new "Nordic" record, congratulations!See his report!
• Ed Kotapish ran a Messier Marathon with thetheLipan Astronomical and Space Society (LASS) near Lipan, Texas on March 5/6, 2011, but got clouded out at 3 am. At that time, he had successfully managed 57 Messier objects with a 60mm f/10, missing M74, M109, M40, and most of the Virgo-Coma stuff except M61, M49, M60, M58, and M87.
• TheAkashmitra Association from Pune, India conducted the annual Messier Marathon in the night of 5-6 March 2011 from Kadus, a village about 55 km north of Pune. There were 18 participants, some of whom were just learning to handle a telescope. Most used 4"-6" Newtonians with only manual controls. Western evening clouds, haze, and light pollution caused some misses, but eventually, the "master" team ofSarang Oak,Sumedh Bhide, andShantanu Kokate scored 99 objects.Harshad Abhyankar did his first attempt from memory only and found 94. The other scores were,Bharat Nowal andKabir Sahane found 70,Tushar Purohit andDr Jigjinni: 61,Satish Pagare: 58,Dhruv Paranjapye: 41,Hrushikesh Kulkarni: 24,Abhishek Waghmare andRounak Kharait: 24,Manik Limaye,Sana Sohoni,Puja Jatkar andSumedh Kumar: 22. For Dhruv, aged 15, this has been his first Messier Marathon. Congratulations to all!Read Harshad's report!
• TheNorth Central Kansas Astronomical Society (NCKAS) have held their marathon on March 4/5, 2011. This year, they achieved a new record of imaging 104 Messier Objects in one night, at their New Mexico site. Unfortunately, the other sites in Kansas, Missouri, and Florida were clouded out. They plan another try this year, for April 2, 2011. For the results of this virtual cooperative effort, seetheir Messier Marathon website.
• TheAstronomers of Verde Valley in Cottonwood, Arizona held their 2011 Messier Marathon on March 5th at the Two Trees Observing Site between Cottonwood and Sedona. 20 participants attended. To encourage novice observers, the Club created a Messier 5K, with the goal to view and log 50 objects before midnight, with a bonus list of 9 more objects that could be substituted for misses from the first 50. Eventually, clouds at 2am terminated this observing session. Marathon results obtained were:Jim Stevens - 75 objects, with a 10-inch home built Dob,J.D. Maddy - 75 objects, with 11-inch Celestron on alt-az mount,Karen Lynn Maddy - 69 objects with 12.5-inch Meade, star-hopped. 5K results: TeamDoug Ostroski andTeal Sullivan - 60 objects, 13.5-inch, TeamPeter Ridout andDick Haugen - 28 objects, 8-inch Celestron SE, TeamDavid andKeenan Sanders - 60 objects, 6-inch Dob Discovery Mars Scope,Frank O'Gorman - 30 objects, 10-inch Orion Dob.Read J.D.'s Report!
• TheHermosillo Astronomy Club in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico held their first 2011 Messier Marathon on April 1/2 at the Campestre Real del Molinito Observing site , near to city of Hermosillo. 3 participants attend. Marathon results obtained were:Dr Salvador Aguirre: 107 objets with a 10-inch Reflector/Dob (Manual) and 6-inch S/C go to.,Miguel Ibarra G: 107 objets with a 10-inch Reflector/Dob (Manual) and 6-inch S/C go to,Bogar Castro: 107 Objets with 4 inches Refactor: ( Manual). Missing objects: M77, M74 ( below horizon) and M33: close to horizon!!! Read Salvador's report! (in spanish)
• Jim Jackson andGreg Haider of theEugene, Oregon Astronomical Society were running a Messier Marathon on April 1/2, 2011, from Hovatter Airstrip (Salome Field) in Arizona, thenew site for the All Arizona Messier Marathon; note this occurred one daybefore the "official" AAMM. With good weather conditions overall - 100F at day down to 60F overnight, clear, little wind, dry and excellent observing conditions, they were able to achieve the following ourstanding results: With M74 and M77 impossible because below horizon, Jim Jackson found all 108 objects he had been looking for, with 16x70 Fujinon binoculars (probably a record for this new site), while Greg Haider found 107 with a Celestron 8" SC. Congratulations!Read their report!
• TheMessier Marathon of West Bohemia 2011 was held inRokycany observatory as a month-long competition, where it was sort of sport" discipline since the year 2003. After many years of bad weather, success came this time: On March 1/2, 2011,Jirka Kubanek located 100 Messier objects with a 93mm refractor. At night March 5/6, 2011,Michal Bares saw 101 by his 150 mm Newtonian. The next two nights later (March 7/8) Michal Rottenborn found 101 objects by Somet Monar 25x100 too. "Official" marathon was held on April 2/3, 2011 in Rokycany observatory, whenJirka Polak (Somet-binar 25x100) andMichal Rottenborn (Somet-monar 25x100) both found 103 objects, and some of the others saw nearly 100 objects.Read Jiri's report, andsee their Messier Marathon webpage (in Czech)!
• Harvey Hitchcock undertook a Messier Marathon on April 1/2, 2011 from Hovatter Airstrip, thenew site for the All Arizona Messier Marathon; note this occurred one daybefore the "official" AAMM. Using an Orion SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope and an Orion binoviewer, he eventually located 109 Messier Objects, missing only M74 in evening twilight; congratulations for this achievement!Read his report!
• Also on April 1/2, 2011, from thesame site Hovatter Airstrip, Arizona,Howard C. Anderson ran particular Messier Marathon. Note that once more, this was the nightbefore the "official" All Arizona Messier Marathon. Howard is the author of HandyAvi, a software to oparate telescopes, which he modified to fully automate the process for imaging the Messier objects. Equipped with a f/6.3 Meade LX-200 "classic" operating at f/5.61 and SBIG ST-4000XCM camera, he obtained CCD images of 108 Messier Objects, missing M74 below horizon, and M27 due to typing error. Congratulations!Read his report andview the result!
• Same date and site, April 1/2, 2011 from the new Messier Marathon site at Hovatter Airstrip,David Hatch undertook a Messier Marathon with his 13-inch Dobsonian, and found 76 Messier objects.
• The2011 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 19th time), was held in the night of the weekend of April 2/3, 2011. This marathon is the first to be held fromthe new site at Hovatter Airstrip, an abandoned airport. Despite unfortunate weather forecast, counted were 35 vehicles and about 50 folks participating. This year, a new observing segment was introduced for photography, with one participating,Wayne Thomas, who eventually bagged 97 CCD images obtained with StallaCam II on 11" SCT, and 11 observers turned in visual results. Due to horizon, all observers missed evening objects M74, M77, and M33, and due to clouds, M30 in the morning, so that the first place went toGeorge Robinson who bagged 106 Messier Objects with 10" f/4.7 Dob. Second becameJimmy Ray who used his Grandfather's 1964 Edmund Scientific 4.25" f/10 "Palomar Jr" telescope to see 104, and third wasBob Christ with a score of 66. Congratulations to all!A.J. Crayon has again provided this year's2011 All Arizona Messier Marathon report, and provided the detailed2011 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, thanks! Also note SAC's 2011 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results Report.
• On April 2/3, 2011,Don Machholz ran his 44th personal Messier Marathon session from Colfax, CA, using his 6" Newtonian reflector. From memory only, he succeeded in observing 107 Messier Objects, missing only M77, M74, and M33.
• The night of April 30 and May 1, 2011,Lou Roberts attempted a Messier Marathon from Carefree, AZ, and successfully found 52 Messier objects at that late date.
• Hrishikesh Joglekar and friends undertook a Messier Marathon on March 4/5, 2011 from Vangani, India. Everybody used a 5" Nowtonian. Hrishi Joglekar found 96 Messier Objects, Vinita Navalkar found 90, Anurag Shevde saw 72, and Chetana Pail spotted 66.
• Mathew Wedel did two Messier Marathons this year: The first he endeavored on April 1/2 from Owl Canyon, California, hunting down 80 Messier objects using a 5-inch reflector - this one was unfortunately clouded out in the morning. See his report!
• Mathew Wedel did his second attempt for a 2011 Messier Marathon as late as April 29-30, 2011, from the Salton Sea, California. On this occasion, he successfully hunted down 103 Messier objects with a 10-inch Dob and 15x70 binoculars. See his report!
• Martin Gembec has done a photographic Messier Marathon on March 29/30, 2011 from Czech Republic, and obtained images of 100 Messier Objects. See his results at http://www.astro.cz/galerie/v/uzivatele/MaG/messier-2011/

• The group"Wanderlust" & "Nayka Nature Lovers Club" held their first Messier Marathon on 17th March 2012 from Matheran (Scope was placed at North 19 deg 01.147' & East 073 deg 17.087') near Mumbai, India. 52 amateur astronomers participated, and spotted a total of 16 Messier objects, all new and never seen before by all of them! The big crowd used three instruments (a 6" Dobson, 80mm refractor, Nikon Spotting Scope 20x60mm), and a nimber of binoculars.Read their report!
  The same group"Wanderlust" & "Nayka Nature Lovers Club" didtheir second Messier Marathon session on March 24, 2012 at the same place, a dark patch of Matheran (hill station) near Mumbai, India. This time, a group of around 40 interested friends, including four kids, participated, using 4 instruments, and were able to spot a total of 41 Messier objects, including suggestions of the current supernova 2012aw in M95.Read their report!
  Thanks toDr Ajay Pradhan for contributing.
• A small group of asteronomers ran a Messier Marathon fromMauna Loa, Hawaii, on the night of 17-18 March, 2012. While there were a number of observers and telescopes, only three observers marathoned. All scored 109 due to the difficulty of having the Moon located between M72 and M73. A better Moon position would have allowed perfect 110's given the date and the 20N latitude. NGC5866 was used for M102, no computers or setting circles were used, purist marathon rules!Mike Connelley (20" Dobsonian) only missed M72,Andrew Cooper (6" f/5.1 Newtonian) andJosh Walawender (90mm APO Refractor) both only missed M73. A more lengthy writeup can be found onAndrew's blog.
• Ed Kotapish was in Lipan, TX again and ran a Messier Marathon on March 24-25, 2012, again with theLipan Astronomy and Space Society (LASS), at their observing site. Using an AT-10D (10in f/5) Dob, he successfully found 106 Messier objects, unable to say if he saw M74, and definitely missing M72, M73, and M30 in the morning because fog rolled in and wiped out the east horizon.
• Hrishikesh Joglekar and friends organized sky observation for Messier Marathon from theGMRT campus, during the night of March 24/25, 2012. They used mainly a 5" Newtonian telescope, but for the Virgo Messiers, a 10" Newtonian. Results were:Hrishikesh Joglekar spotted 100 objects,Vinita Navalkar spotted 100 objects, andChiraag Juvekar spotted 76 objects. 9 evening sky objects were missed due toatmospheric dust (M77, M74, M31-32-110, M33, M103, M52 and M76), and M30 was missed in dawn. For Hrishi, it was his 10th Messier Marathon, still waiting to pass his 2003 record of 103.
• Don Machholz has undertaken his 45th Messier Marathon at another unusual date, February 24/25, 2012, from Colfax, CA. Again using his 6" Newtonian, he successfully observed 102 Messier Objects, missing M69, M70, M2, M55, M75, M72, M73, and M30.
• Don Machholz andGeorge Robinson attended the2012 All Arizona Messier Marathon on March 24/25, 2012, and had an additional "bonus" session the night before, on March 23/24, 2012, at the same site,Hovatter Airstrip. During this first session, both amateurs hunted down all 110 Messier Objects! Both did it from memory only. Also,George Robinson had been there the night earlier, March 22/23, 2012, and also obtained a full score of 110 Messier Objects, observed from memory only. This was probably the first Full 110 from that site. Congratulations! The night of the Arizona Marathon, the event started fine until after midnight when clouds interferred - up to that time, both Don and George had bagged all the first 66 objects, including difficult M74 and M33. Through holes in the clouds they continued, anding up at 90+ (George) and 84 (Don). For Don it was his 46th and 47th Messier Marathon, and his 6th Full 110 Messier Objects result.Read Don's report!
• Tom Hoffelder had another Messier Marathon session from Connecticut (Tollond, CT) on the night of March 26/27, 2012. On this occasion, he undertook the Marathon complete on two instruments in parallel, his C14 (14-inch SCT) and his 8-inch f/6 Newtonian. Impressive results: From this Northern location in CT, Tom was able observe 107 Messier Objects with the Newtonian, missing only M74, M77 and M30 due to location, and to observe 106 objects in the C14, missing these three plus M110 because of its situation in a local light-dome. With his former CT record at 106, this is new record from Connecticut, congratulations! Tom clearly saw theSupernova 2012aw in M95, and also observed edge-on galaxies NGC 3877 and 4096; also comet Garradd, and saw a rocket test ( see description).Read his report!
• March 23/24, 2012:Jonathan Reed andCole Cote hunted down all 110 Messier Objects from the top of Johnson Mesa, just outside of Folsom, NM, using a 10" Dobson and an 8" Dobson. This Messier Marathon was hold to the memory and honor of their professor,Dr. Robert H. Day, who had sadly passed away on March 22, 2012, after having wished a "Happy hunting this weekend boys, I can't wait to hear how it went," the day before (March 21), when they had last seen him.Read Jonathan Reed's report!
• The amateur astronomers of the "Deep Space Group" from Lecco, Italy, did their first Messier Marathon on the night from March 24th to 25th on the Giumello Alp (Lat. +46°05', Long. 9°35' E, alt. 1655m) and scored 101 out of 110! Participants were:Paulo Henrique Tsingos (10" Meade dobsonian f/4,5) andVittorio Serra (10" Sky Watcher dobsonian f/6) both supported, controlled and followed byMonica Meroni andMartino Fossati, as well asEnnio Monti (150mm Vixen Refractor),Mirko de Martini (9" Celestron),Giuseppe Gnata (114mm newtonian) andClaudio Fossati.Read Paulo's report!
• The2012 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 20th time), was held in the night of March 24/25, 2012. It was held at thesame site as the year before, called the Hovatter Airstrip. Unfortunately, unlike the two nights before, this night the weather was unfriendly. Interested people arriving and leaving, at last 35 vehicles attended. Sky was mostly cloudy all the time to midnight, then got completely cloudy. Still, 14 observers turned in results. Despite the bad condition, winnerJim Ray had found 97 Messier Objects. Second cameJack Jones andGeorge Robinson who had seen 93 each, thenDon Machholz (in his 47th marathon) andDavid Trogan who found 84. 7 more observers found 64 to 68 objects. Thesupernova 2012aw in M95 was spotted by two observers only (David Trogan and A.J. Crayon). Three observers were running the photographic version of the Messier Marathon, and photographed 93, 69, and 32 objects, respectively.A.J. Crayon has again provided this year's2012 All Arizona Messier Marathon report, and provided the2012 All Arizona Messier Marathon results list, great thanks!
• Eric Steinberg undertook his first Messier Marathon from the site of the All Arizona Messier Marathon at Hovatter airstrip, during the night of Thursday/Friday March 22-23, 2012, using a 16-inch f/4.5 Dobsonian. To 2:00 am, profiting from very good observing and weather conditions, he had observed 75 of 76 Messier Objects he had attempted, missing only M74.Read his report!
• TheBrazos Valley Astronomy Club held its annual Messier Marathon March 23, 2012 at Mark Spearman's Regina Caelorum observatory in Wheelock Texas. 17 observers participated. Reported results:Mark Spearman managed to image 109 objects with a Takahashi TOA 130 missing only M30,Derek Kuhl logged 106 objects with his Celestron 8 missing only M74, M32, M110 and M30,Tim Cowden logged 59,Judy Culver andJoe Powell together found 31 with her Vixen VMC200L, andKevin Gassen found 15 wiht 10x50 binoculars.Read Derek's report! Also notice their more detailed writeup.
• On Friday March 23, about 25 amateurs participated in the annual "achterhoekweekend" starparty in Laren, The Netherlands. Three amateurs decided to undertake a Messier Marathon:Tom Borger with a 6-inch and a 16-inch Dobsonian, while bothSteven Lantinga andRoel Weijenberg used a 12-inch reflector each. Roel left early, but from their location at 52deg N latitude, Steven reached a total of 94 objects, Tom made 93, and in addition created sketches for each object observed! Congratulations!Read Tom's report! Also note their links with sketches (all in Dutch): Messier-schetsmarathon thread in astroforum.nl, and Steven Lantinga's blog.
• Lorenzo Comolli has undertaken a photographic Messier Marathon during the night of March 24-25, 2012, from about 45deg N from Capanne di Cosola, Italy. With dark sky but haze, in his first trial, he ended up with 105 Messier Objects, missing only M54, M69, M70, and M55 behind trees, and M30 below horizon. Equipment was a TEC 140 apo refractor and Canon 5D DSLR, autoguided.Read his report! A more detailed report with all images can befound here.
• TheAstronomical Society Guadalajara, AC conducted a 2012 Messier Marathon from the farm acbo "La Loma" Atemejac Township of Brizuela in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. 38 amateurs participating (see photo), with best results obtained byMr. Arthur Tafoya with 96 objects,Mr. Valdez with 76 objects,Gloria Cortez with 40 andMaria Luisa M. Gomez with 40 objects.Read Gerardo Rizo's report!
• Several amateur astronomers inWest Bohemia were running a Messier Marathon in 2012, from March 23 to March 25, 2012, but due to weather conditions only saw some tens of Messier Objects.Jiri Kubanek had already run Marathons in three nights privately, the most successful on March 19/20, hwen he observed 103 Messier objects, missed only morning objects M69, M70, M72, M73, M75, M55 and impossible to observe M30, from latitude 49.7N. Moreover,Michal Rottenborn undertook a "Messier sprint", observing as many Messier objects as possible in one hour: With a Somet-monar 25x100 binoculars, he found 56 objects between 20:15 and 21:14 UT on March 16/17, 2012.Read Jiri's report! Also notetheir website (in Czech language).
• Members ofAkashmitra Association (Pune, India) attempted the Messier Marathon on two dates this year: On 19-20 March,Harshad Abhyankar,Kshitija Kelkar andAbha Vaishampayan went to Ghansavangi. Under moderate conditions, Harshad scored 106, missing 32, 110, 74, 33, Kshitija spotted 98, and Abha's score was 76. On March 24-25, another group went to Pokhri, and achieved the following scores:Jameer Manur (75),Bharat Noval (52),Niraj (51),Arrish (50),Nikit Dongaonkar (28),Chetan Gokhale (28),Shrikant Vinchurkar (28). Because of telescope problems,Nikhil Sharma andAmol Kankaria had to abandon the marathon after spotting about 10 objects.Read Harshad's report!

• "Wanderlust Adventures," held their third Messier Marathon on March 9/10, 2013, from Matheran, Maharashtra, India. Participation was 29 enthisiastic amateur astronomers. The team successfully spotted 62 Messier Objects with a 6-inch (150mm) Dobsonian telescope.Read Dr Ajay Pradhan's report!
  Thanks toDr Ajay Pradhan for contributing.
• Erika Rix did a Messier Marathon on March 13/14, 2013 from her fromt field in Liberty Hill, Texas (central Texas). She successfully observed 106 Messier Objects, and was able to take sketches of a total of 103 Messier Objects that night. Read her report! Also see herResults Log and herSketches file.
• Circolo Astrofili Veronesi had planned their Messier Marathon for March 9/10, but due to bad weather rescheduled, and held their Messier Marathon 2013 on March 15/16, 2013, from the Astronomical Observatory Monte Baldo "A. Gelodi" (Long. 10d 51' 32" E., Lat. 45d 41' 52" N. altitude 1.208 m). Using their Ritchie-Crétien 400-mm telescope at f/8 and 3250mm focal length, they successfully took pictures of 85 Messier Objects. Observers: Flavio Castellani, Fabio Coltri, Raffaele Belligoli. See their results in a slide show!
• "Wanderlust Adventures," held their second Messier Marathon this year (2013), their fourth in total, on March 16-17, 2013, from Saralgaon, Maharashtra, India. The group of 10 amateur astronomers successfully found a total of 60 Messier Objects, with their 6-inch (150mm) Dobsonian telescope and 5-inch Newtonian on EQ mount.Read Dr Ajay Pradhan's report! Also see Dr. Ajay Pradhan's Wanderlust Messier Marathon Report blogs.
  Thanks toDr Ajay Pradhan for contributing.
• The2013 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored agein (for the 21st time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 16/17, 2013 at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip). From a considerable number of participants, 33 turned in results, of these 31 visual observation results and 2 imager results. M30 turned out to be impossible this time, but 8 observers did the 109, 5 found 108 (missing M74 and M30), and another 5 saw 107 objects, another 1 found 106. Imager Chris Johnson took pictures of 105, Howard Anderson of 103 Messier Objects. See theirresults list provided by Rick Tejera and their report in SACNews April 2013.AAMM 2013 photos by Tom Polakis. Rick Tejera's AAMM Update on az_observing freelist. All Arizona Messier Marathon facebook page.
• On March 09/10 2013 members amateurs participated in Messier Marathon 2013 ofAstronomical Society Guadalajara, AC. They went to Atemajac of Brizuela, state of Jalisco, Mexico. Three of them registered results: Roberto Navarro made 64 objects with 8" reflector, Maria Luisa Montaño made 72 objects with 8" reflector, and Arturo Celada, in his first time made 27 with him 6" reflector handmade. Another three members were judges: Jose Valdez, Saul Padilla and Gerardo Rizo.
• Mathew Wedel undertook his 2013 Messier Marathon on March 9-10, 2013 from the Salton Sea, California, and successfully observed 108 Messier objects using a 5-inch Maksutov and 10x50 binoculars. Read his report!

• TheHermosillo Astronomy Club in Hermosillo (Club Astronomico de Hermosillo, C.AS.H), Sonora, Mexico held their Second : 2014 Messier Marathon on February 26/27 at the Campestre Real del Molinito Observing site , near to city of Hermosillo. 1 participant attended. Marathon results obtained were: Dr Salvador Aguirre: 108 objets with a 10-inch Reflector/Dob (Manual) . Missing objets: M73 (Moon interference) and M30 (below horizon/Twilight). Here is the report in Spanish - Salvador Aguirre
• "Wanderlust Adventures," held their first Messier Marathon this year (2014), their fifth in total, on March 1-2, 2014, from a farmhouse near Kalyan, Mumbai, India. The group of 16 amateur astronomers successfully found a total of 88 Messier Objects, with their 6-inch (150mm) Dobsonian telescope and 8-inch Newtonian on EQ mount (Everybody observed each object!).Read Dr Ajay Pradhan's report!
  Thanks toDr Ajay Pradhan and Sagar Tanavade ("Team Cosmos Paradise") for contributing.
• Hrishikesh Joglekar and friends organized a Messier Marathon again, from Badlapur, India on March 1/2, 2014. All three participants used a 5" Nowtonian telescope each. Results: Hrishikesh Joglekar found 106 Messier Objects, missing only M73, M30, M2 and M15; Vinita Navalkar found 105, missing M33, M73, M30, M2, and M15; and Kastun Warang observed 60 Messier Objects. Thanks to Hrishikesh Joglekar for contributing!
• Gábor Sánta andJános Gábor Kernya of the deepsky section ofHungarian Astronomical Association (HAA) undertook their Messier Marathon on March 29/30, 2014 from Hajós Sandlands Conservation Area near the city of Baja, Hungary. Using a 252/980 mm Dobsonian, a 102/600 mm achromat, and a pair of 15x17 binoculars, they were able to observe 109 Messier Objects, missing only M30, which is impossible at that time and location. Congratulations!Read Gábor Sánta's report!
• Members ofThe Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) did observing sessions for Messier Marathon on both nights of Friday, March 28/29 and Saturday March 29/30, 2014, from their club'sGeneral Nathan Twining Observatory (GNTO). During Friday night,Steve Riegel andJim Kaminsky were successful in observing 109 Messier Objects. During Saturday night,Gordon Pegue, using his 20" f/5 Tectron, successfully hunted downall 110 Messier Objects! Congratulations! This was his second full-score marathon in 23 years.Read Gordon Pegue's report!
• Members of theGuadalajara Astronomical Society, AC held their Messier Marathon 2014 on March 29/30, 2014 at their "La Loma" valley site near town Atemajac of Brizuela, state of Jalisco, Mexico. With a cloudy west sky in the evening, the first 7 Messier Objects went lost (M31, M32, M110, M33, M77, M76, M74); weather conditions improved thru night. Best result was achieved byRoberto Navarro who observed 103 with an 8" Dobsonian. Further results:Luisa Montaño, 98 objects with 8" Dobsonian f/5.9,Jorge Moreno, 58 with 5" reflector,Arturo Celada, 45 with hand-made 6" Dobsonian,Carlos andSandy Tafoya in team, 88 with 8" reflector; judge was Raúl Ramírez.Read Maria Luisa Montaño's report!
• The2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored agein (for the 22nd time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 29/30, 2014 at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip). About 45 vehicles and 60 observers attended. Unfortunately, when darkness arrived in the evening, clouds rolled in and made evening setter objects unattainable. Skies cleared up later for some time, but were found clouded again at about 2:00, so most observers ceased that session. Highest result was achieved byRositta Dodder who found 80 with an 8" SCT, followed byJimmy Ray with 79 sawn with an 11" SCT, andPaul Lind who observed 76 with a 14.5" f/5 Dobsonian. 27 observers turned in results, andShane Eigell deserves mention because besides observing 52 with an 80mm refractor, he also took images of 60 objects with an 8" Astrograph Newtonian and Canon 550D camera. Youngest participant was 8-year-old Molly Wiese (who observed 5).Rick Tejera has provided this year's2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon Report and the2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon - Official Results list, great thanks!
  Also note SAC's 2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon announce, their 2014 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results and Report page, and the All Arizona Messier Marathon facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AllArizonaMessierMarathon.

• Keith Turnecliff was running a Messier Marathon session from a dark sky location in Brittany, Northern France, during the night of March 18/19, 2015. From this location, he was aiming for a maximum score of about 105 Messier objects due to northern latitude, and was trying to photograph as many of them as possible. He also brought a 7-page list of other objects. Starting at about 20:30, with a good sky, he successfully started and completed about 3 of his 7 pages. Suffering from clouds in the morning sky, he eventually succeeded in photographing about 95 Messier objects, quite a few NGCs, IC 4182, and comet Lovejoy.Read Keith's preliminary report!
  On return home, Keith plans to post his results on hisMessier Marathon webpage.
• Pooja Tolia andRhushikesh Deshpande did their first-ever Messier Marathon on March 19-20, 2015, from a Farmhouse at Saralgaon, near Kalyan, Mumbai, India, and successfully located 103 M-objects manually with the telescope in a single night. They used an 8" reflector and a 90-mm refractor. Congratulations!Read Pooja's Report!
• "Team Cosmos Paradise," formerly "Wanderlust Adventures," held a successful Messier Marathon event on March 21/22 fromDhingchak Farms near Saralgaon, Kalyan, Mumbai, India. Led byDr. Ajay Pradhan,Pooja Tolia,Prabhu Velar &Rhushikesh Deshpande, the 38 friends used 4 telescopes (3 reflectors of 8", 6", and 10" respectively, and a 90-mm refractor) to observe 81 Messier objects.Read Ajay Pradhan's report!
• Two members of theQuad City Astronomy Society (QCAS),Jeff Struve andMatt Neilssen, decided to give a marathon a shot... They were able to observe 107 of the 110 Messier Objects. They observed from a site housing Saint Ambrose University's Menke Observatory in Dixon, Iowa. Matt used an Explore Scientific F6.5 152mm Achromatic refractor on an Orion Atlas mount, Jeff a 12" Orion 12XXi dob and a 20mm Explore Scientific 100deg eyepiece. Missed objects were M74, M55 and M30.
• The2015 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored agein (for the 23rd time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 21/22, 2015, at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip), and was ahuge success! CoordinatorRick Tejera reports the attendance of 68 counted cars and about 100 interested folks. This was notably includingDon Machholz at his 51st Messier Marathon (found 109), two obervers from Munich, Germany who had travelled farthest:Ben Nagorsen andJulian Braun who observed 110 and 108, repectively. A total of 12 observers succeeded with the maximum score of 110 observed Messier Objects, 11 of them for the first time, and Rick Tejera himself who achived his second full success (with a 60-mm refractor!). Another 6 observers found 109 (all missing M30), and two saw 108 (missing M74 and M30). Youngest observers had been two nine-year old,Joshua Bonadio (who found 54) andMolly Wiese (26). Results were turned in by a total of 31 visual observers, plus one photographer,Howard Anderson, who took images of 106 objects. Big cordial congratulations to all!Rick Tejera has provided this year's2015 All Arizona Messier Marathon Report and the2015 All Arizona Messier Marathon - Official Results list, great thanks!
  Also note SAC's 2015 All Arizona Messier Marathon announce, their 2015 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results list, and the All Arizona Messier Marathon facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AllArizonaMessierMarathon.
• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society did his first Messier Marathon in an observing session in the night of March 21/22 from his location in North Wales, UK, using his GSO 8-inch f/6 Dobsonian. The night was clear. Of the 110 Messier Objects, 9 would not rise that night from his location, and he missed M74, M79, and M35 in the evening and some more in the morning sky. Eventually, he succeeded in finding 93 - congratulations! Liverpool Astronomical Society eNewsletter -- May 2015 issue
• The2015 Skywatcher Telescopes/3RF Messier Marathon, sponsored bySkywatcher Telescopes for theThree River Foundation at Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus near Crowell, Texas was unluckily clouded out for all seven nights from Sunday, March 15 through Saturday, March 22. CoordinatorMatthew Sample is looking forward to try a "make-up" Marathon for observing Deepsky Objects in September.

• TheSPACE Messier Marathon 2016, first half of 55, was held on March 5-6, 2016 in Tehla, Rajastan by 18 astronomy educators, led by Abhinav Prakash Dubey. The site "Astroport Sariska" is located about 220 km from New Delhi. Weather was not with the observers: Sky kept being clouded and occasional rain caused interruptions, so none of them came close to the envisiged 55, average was more about 25 objects - still a great experience to everyone! This event was sponsored by the Education Department, SPACE.Read Vikrant Narang's preliminary report!
• Mike Rowles of theDelmarva Stargazers attempted aMemory Messier Marathon on March 6/7, 2016, from a dark yellow zone site on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 39d Northern latitude. He was able to locate and observe 101 Messier objects - entirely from memory! Congratulations!Read his report!
• Dave Whittle of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, UK ran a "distributed" Messier Marathon from Galloway, Scotland dark sky park. Starting clear on Friday, March 4, 2016, he could observe all the 66 first Messier objects in the sequence including the Virgo group, but clouds rolled in after midnight. Next night, starting Saturday evening, he decided to continue the list from the night before with M83, and found 34 more objects to achieve a total of 100. Dave had missed only M2 of the theoretically possible 101 objects visible from the 55deg latitude on that date.Read his report!
  Dave did another, previously unexpected, attempt on March 10/11, 2016 from North Wales, U.K., On this occasion, he could find 84 objects until mist rolled in and coveredthe horizon - so his last objects this time were M19 and M11.Read his report on this event!
• Luca Vanzella andWarren Finlay, of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), ran an interesting variation of the Messier Marathon, on the night of March 9/10, 2016 at La Perouse Bay (Maui, Hawaii). Warren used a 10" Dobsonian and 8x42 nioculars, Luca a 10" Dobsonian and 12x36 image stabilized binoculars. Each of them successfully observed 109 Messier Objects, all but M30 - and added the Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973-5-7) as substitute for that, plus 7 "insurance" objects (so a total of 117). Warren Finlay also ran a full 42.2-km marathon during the same night! Thus he completed a new variant, a "Bimarathon," for the first time, between sunset and sunrise.See his report and hismore detailed webpage for further details of this event.
• Russ Pinizzotto undertook his sixth Messier Marathon after a 13-year hiatus (see1999 - two,2001,2002, and2003), on the night of March 11/12, 2016 from the considerably northern location of Phippsburg, ME. Using 7 x 50, 18 x 50 image stabilized, and 20 x 80 binoculars, as well as a Meade 8-inch reflector for M77, M74, the Virgo Cluster and M57, he was able to observe 104 Messier objects, all but the last 6, namely M75, M2, M72, M73, M55, and M30. Congratulations for this very good result!Read his report!
• Martijn Straub of Holland did his first Messier Marathon on March 9-10, 2016 from the Roque de Los Muchachos on La Palma (lat 28d N). He used a 15x70 binoculars on a tripod, and achieved a score of 109 Messier objects, missing only M30. Moreover he observed planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury, as well as Omega Centauri and the Veil Nebula. Congratulations! Read his report!
• Dave Mitsky did two Messier Marathons this year from ASH Naylor Observatory, Lewisberry, PA, using an 8" f/6 Hardin Dob and the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and its 5" f/5 finder scope. On March 8-9, when he had already bagged more than half the objects by 1:30 a.m., clouds threatened to terminate the event, but cleared up later, so he resumed and eventually logged 92 Messier objects, most of them with the 17". He also observed a few NGC objects, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn, two satellites, and the ISS. On March 11-12, he undertook a second marathon, again disturbed by clouds, but eventually was able to hunt down 94 Messier objects, this time preferring the 8" mostly. He also looked at several NGC objects, some binary stars, planets Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and the young Moon.Read his report!
• Larry Funfer participated in the 2016 All Arizona Messier Marathon and found 23 Messier Objects with his Williams Optics 100mm refractor.See his report sheet (pdf)!
• The2016 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored agein (for the 24th time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 12/13, 2016, at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip). This year it was coordinated again byA.J. Crayon,Rick Tejera being committed elsewhere. A.J. estimated about 50 vehicles and 60 folks participating. This year, the early date did not permit the 110-score for M30 being impossible. Eventually, 26 observers returned sheets, 9 of them having observed 109 objects, includingChris Stephens on his first marathon, five found 108 and one had 107.A.J. Crayon has provided this year's great2016 All Arizona Messier Marathon Report, and the2016 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results list (compiled by Rick Tejera), big thanks!
  This report and results are also printed in the SACnews Newsletter for April 2016. Also note SAC's 2016 All Arizona Messier Marathon announce and the All Arizona Messier Marathon facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AllArizonaMessierMarathon.
• TheSan Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA) and theSan Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers hosted again an apparition of Charles Messier (actually Kenneth Frank dressed) on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, USA, and joined for holding a Messier Marathon on April 2, 2016. See images of this apparition:"Charles Messier" appearing .. andin the middle of the group. Thanks to Kenneth Frank (nee Charles :) ) for contributing!

• Russell F. Pinizzotto, now a member of theSouthern Maine Astronomers club, did another Messier Marathon this year on 22/23 March 2017, using Canon 18x50 IS and Overwork 25x100 IF binoculars, and did not use a telescope. He used the same location as last year, Crow's Nest Observatory - 43 48 43 N; 69 51 05 W. He missed the final 6 objects again, as well as M74 for a total of 103 compared to last year's 104. With M74 and M77 difficult at this late date, and the Moon in Capricorn wiping out better opportunities for the last objects, this result is very remarkable. Russ was very pleased with doing so well with the binoculars, and notably the difference moving up to 25x100s from his 20x80s.Read his report!
• TheQuad Cities Astronomical Society, Iowa was to host its first annual Messier Marathon on March 24th - 26th, 2017, but had to be cancelled/postponed due to fog, clouds, rain, and thunderstorms that would occur over the duration of the event. Ten amateurs of the Popular Astronomy Club and the Quad Cities Astronomical Society were to attend this event at he Saint Ambrose Menke Observatory in Dixon, Iowa. While disappointed for the cancellation, they will keep up their minds and will be continuing with future marathon events. Thanks toJeff A Struve for reporting!
• Ed Kotapish ran the marathon near Albany, TX in March 24/25, 2017, using a 10-inch f/5 Newtonian with 40mm and 16.8mm eyepieces. He got 108, missing only M74 and M30.Look at his logsheet! He tried to do the marathon from memory but needed chart help with M106 - great to find 107 objects from memory, congratulations!
• Ashirwad Tillu from the region of Mumbai, India organized his first Messier Marathon which took place March 25/26, 2017, from his village Pandurli, off Ghoti Sinnar Road, near the city, Nishik, India, together with his friend and fellow observerAnurage Shevde. They started at a different place, in the outskirts of the village Devle, because of considerations viewing the evening objects; these were observed with Anurage's 6" f/4 reflector; attempting M74, M52, M110, M31, M32, M33, M76, M34, M77, they could only find M76 and M34. After this, they relocated to their main observing site and continued with Ashirwad's 18 inch (F/4.5) Dob. With that instrument they successfully located all 103 remaining objects including M30, and eventually even spotted M52 which had been missed in the evening, for a final scope of 104 (missing M74, M110, M31, M32, M33, M77) - congratulaqtions! They also observed Jupiter, Saturn and the two comets 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak and C/2015 V2 Johnson.Read Tillu's report!
• A group of 17 friends, led byDr. Ajay Pradhan and his "Cosmos Paradise," formerly "Wanderlust Adventures", held a Messier Marathon on March 25/26, 2017 fromDhingchak Farms near Saralgaon, Kalyan, Mumbai, India. They successfully tracked 79 Messier objects out of 110 in 1 single night. They missed 31 objects due to: light pollution at horizon during dusk or dawn (16), lack of nearby stars to starhop (5), faintness (3), differentiation from other objects (1), and location problems (1). Instruments used wer a 6" f/7.8 Dobsonian, 60mm spotting scope, and 10x25 binoculars.Read Ajay Pradhan's report!!
• TheThree Rivers Foundation Messier Marathon star party was held at the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus of theThree Rivers Foundation for the Arts and Sciences near Crowell, Texas, on Saturday, March 25, through Monday, March 27. These were two subsequent Messier Marathon nights. Single-night total results achied were 108 objects byGlenn Winn (March 25/26 with 17.5" Dob, missing M74 and M77, getting M30), 108 byMathew Wedel (March 25/26 with 4" refractor, missing M74 in the evening and M30 in the morning), 90 byRuss Boatright (March 25/26, 18x50 binoculars,from memory only), 47 by Tom Monahan (March 25/26) and 85 byMathew Wedel (March 26/27, 7x50 binoculars). Glenn Winn got M77 next night for a 2-night total of 109. Read Mathew's report on wordpress: https://10minuteastronomy.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/deep-in-the-dark-of-texas-the-three-rivers-foundation-messier-marathon/.
• Jiri Kubanek andMichal Rottenborn went to run the Messier Marathon of West Bohemia 2017 on March 26/27, from the Bohemian Forest (near Zhuri by Horska Kvilda), altitude over 1,100 m, latitude 49.1N. Michal used his Somet-monar 25x100, Jiri observed with Michal's 8" Newton. Both achieved a great score of 108 successfully observed Messier Objects, missing only M55 and impossible M30 - congratulations! (Czech record!)Read Jiri's report!
• Dave Whittle did another attempt this year for the messier marathon, this time in Antequera, southern Spain at 37.1(N). The first attempt was done Sat 25th March, but M74 not attempted as low down behind some bushes now 6ft high not on google maps in 2012!, Eta visible in binoculars at head height but not at ground level with 12 dobs! - obtained 78 objects before primary misted up due to unusual very humid conditions.
  Next attempt Tuesday 28th with the scope protected from dew and elevated on a work bench but Eta still not visible in the scope as it was now a few degrees lower than previously so still just behind the top of the bushes so M74 again unable to be attempted. 108 objects followed but M30 lost in the light pollution from a small town only 1.5 miles away and the dawn sky but should have been 1 degree above the distant hills. Report can be found in the Liverpool Astronomical Society eNewsletter -- August 2017 issue
• Martin Gembec ran his second photo Messier Marathon (after 2011) on March 26/27, 2017 from Czech Repiublic, and obtained photos of 108 Messier Objects with his Celestron ED 80/600. See his report (in Czech) at http://udalosti.astronomy.cz/?p=7636. He has reporteded also of the successful Messier Marathon of Vic Kal, who has used a 40cm dobsonian and Fujinon 16x70 binoculars, and visually observed 108 objects; see his report at http://udalosti.astronomy.cz/?p=7630.
• On March 25/26, 2017,C. E. Steuart Dewar finally had his perfect run from Big Bend, Texas with a pair of 37x100 Miyauchi Saturn III binoculars with laser finder and Garrett 11x56 binoculars. Having already achieved 109 in 2007 from 35N (missing M30), this year he went down to Big Bend NP, Texas, and had a perfect night and could find all 110 objects.See his report, also reported on his website at http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/cesd-astronomy.htm - also his log.sheet at http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/2017-03-25_MessierMarathonLogSheet.pdf! Congratulations for his Perfect Score!
• TheBirmingham Astronomical Society of Alabama (BAS) was hosting a Messier Marathon on April 1-2, 2017 at their Chandler Mountain Observatory, located approximately 50 miles Northeast of Birmingham. This event had been rescheduled from the original date one week earlier due to weather. 17 folks did show up, two of them were able to find 108 of the 110 objects, with a 6-inch and an 8-inch Newtonian, respectively. A number of more telescopes has been in the field, including the club's new C14.Read Fred Rains' report!
• The2017 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored agein (for the 25th time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 25/26, 2017, at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip). This time, the event was coordinated byRick Tejera. Weather permitted a perfect observing night. If I counted correctly, 32 participants turned in observing results, including 10 achieved full score results of 110 observed Messier Objects, 6 of them first-time 110s:Sanket Unhalei,Nilesh Korde,Michael Poppre,Tom andJennifer Polakis,Tyler T Dawson,Shyanne Dustru,Curtis Danko,Paul Lind andJack Jones. 6 observers found 109, one team of 2 found 108, 2 guys 107, and 3 observed 106 objects. Three observers under 18 participated:Christopher Texlar (109),Molly Wiese andSerena CharleyHoward Anderson did another photographic Messier Marathon and obtained images of 109 objects this time with his LX200 and ST400 equipment. Congratulatins to all! Rick Tejera has provided anevent report and the2017 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results list including a short report of the event.

• Ashirwad Tillu from Mumbai, India undertook his second Messier Marathon for March 17/18, 2018, using his 18-inch f/4.5 Dob, from his village house about 160 km from Mumbai. Starting optimistically, weather intervented with progressive cloud cover, he struggled thru the opened sky areas while clouds were moving, and managed to observe 43 Messier objects, until the sky completely covered at about 2 AM. At 9 PM, his wife and his 85-year-old mother joined him, the old lady observing M35, M46, and M42; a great moment!
• Martijn Straub undertook the Messier Marathon from Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, on the weekend of March 17/18, 2018, with his 10-inch Dobson. After his attempts of 2016 (missing M30) and 2017 (missing M74), he finally achieved the full score of 110/110. Congratulations! See his report!
• Vitaliy Smolianchuk andVyacheslav Bogdanets of theAstronomy club "Astropolis", Kiev, Ukraine, successfully undertook a Messier Marathon during the night of March 23/24, 2018, from the "base" of their astronomy club in Vyselka near Kiev, Ukraine (49.903N, 31.007W). They used the following instruments: 8-inch f/5 Dobsonian, 100/900 Ed on equatorial mount, and a 12-inch f/5 Dobsonian. At temperatures as low as -14C in the morning, they finally achieved a score of 102 observed Messier objects; low morning clouds prevented them from finding any of the missed M72, M73, M75, M55, M54, M69, M70 and M30. They found the most difficult objects to be M110, M102 (NGC 5866), and M2 (morning twilight). Congratulations!
• Sociedad Astronomica Guadalajara, A.C. (SAG) had their great edition of Messier Marathon 2018 and star-camping on 17-18th March at Atemajac de Brizuela, in México. Some members did marathon without goto-systems or electronic aids and it was verified by judges: Gerardo Rizo, Jose-Fructuoso Valdez, and Raul Ramirez. Best results were: 105 objects byAntonio Luna (his first marathon) with a reflector 12 inch, and 105 byMaria-Luisa Montaño with an 8 inch f/5,9.Arturo Tafoya and his sonCarlos found near 100 with his 8" equatorial. Sky seeing was acceptable, but zodiacal light did imposible to resolve M74. Objects M72, M73, and M30 were not visible by some lower clouds. Almost one hundred people enjoyed a Messier Public Tour guided byArturo López with the "QB30" Telescope (reflector 30 inch of diamenter).
• The Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) had organized observing sessions for the Messier Marathon from their General Nathan Twining Observatory (GNTO), in Belen, NM, on the nights of Friday March 16, Saturday March 17, and Sunday March 18, 2018. Friday and Sunday sessions failed because of weather (overcast and wind), but Saturday was partly successful: Observers could find about 30 objects before wind and clouds ended the event at about 10:30. TAAS MemberJohn Laning was more lucky from his site in Manzano Mountains, NM and found 102 Messier Objects with an 11" Edge f/7 SCT and 20x80 binoculars. On Monday March 19, skies cleared up, and eventually, a perfect Messier Maraton was possible:Jim K successfully observed all 110 Messier Objects from the GNTO with a 80mm f/7 refractor, and fellow observerMartin Hilario saw 109 with 11" SCT, and imaged all 110 with a Generation-3 Night Vision scope. Congratulations!Read Jim's report
• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society, U.K. attempted a practise Messier Marathon on March 10/11, 2018 from Brenig in North Wales, and observed 75 Messier Objects until mist and fog prevented further observations; further attempts in the following week were prevented by weather.
• The2018 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again (for the 26th time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 17/18, 2018, at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip). This time, wind was notably interacting with the Messier Marathon at their site, the weather keeping attendance down this year, with only 10 observers standing the challenge, with notable results:Doug Wiese found 103 Messier Objects with a 80mm f/3.75 refractor (missing M77, M74, M33, M32, M110, and M76 in the evening, M30 in the morning),Don Pfirrmann got 102 with a 4-inch Televue Genesis refractor (missing also M31),Raghavendra Murthy andSuprada G.N. with their 8" Dobson, as well asPaul Lind with a 14.5" f/5 Dob observed 101 (missing also M34),Terry Shay saw 91 with a 90mm Maksutov,Joan McGue found 69 with a 8" f/6 Dobson,Thomas E Curry found 54 with 8" f/10 LX-90 SCT,Rick Rotramel scored 51 with 10" f/5.8 Newton, andMicki Killoran observed 20 objects with a 8" f/6 Dobson.See their results as reported by Rick Tejera. Also foind these results, as well as a report by Joan McGue, in the SAC Newsletter for May 2018.
• Pavel Vorobiev participated in the 2018 Messier Marathon organized by the of the University of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico on March 17-18. 2018. He successfully photographed 72 Messier Objects (all but M30) with a Takahashi FS60Q 600mm f/10 AVX with Nikon D750 camera.See poster with his results!

• Ashirwad Tillu andAnurag Shevade undertook their Messier Marathon 2019 from Ashirwad's house at Pandhurli in Maharashtra, India, using an 18-inch f/4.5 Dobsonian. Luckily having excellent sky conditions, excellent equipment and a good observing site, plus the experience of past years, they accomplished all 110 Messier Objects in their marathon. Congratulations! They also observed a number of additional objects including galaxies in the Virgo cluster, comet 123P/West-Hartley, and quasar 3C 273.Read Ashirwad's report!
• Cosmos Paradise / WanderLust Adventures arranged their Messier Marathon 2019 on March 9/10, from Dhingchak Village, Kalyan, Maharashtra, India. 21 amateur astronomers temed up, among them 15 new amateurs. From this fairly dark site, they spotted 51 Messier Objetcs with 6-inch Dobson telescope.Read Ajay Pradhan's report!
• Sociedad Astronomica Guadalajara, A.C. (SAG) had her 2019 Messier Marathon edition on 9-10th March at Atemajac de Brizuela Valley, in Mexico. The good weather conditions allowed visibility of 5th magnitude stars. The best results in the manual category were: 99 objects byArturo Celada with his 8-inch reflector constructed by him, 103 objects byJorge Moreno with 8-inch f/5,43 reflector, andMaria-Luisa Montano got 105 with 8" f/5,9 reflector dobsonian.Yuri Orozco found 44 objects in her first marathon with two smalls Newtonians of 5 and 6-inch. M74 was obstructed by zodiacal light and Moon light on Pisces. M30 was impossible to observe. A great 30-inch telescope was available overnight for more than 140 observers in the campsite where they could see the comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto, Omega Centauri, Centaurus A, the transits of Io shadow and GRS over Jupiter, besides other objects Messier. -- Maria Luisa Montano, member of Sociedad Astronomica Guadalajara
• Jonathan Ward attempted his first Messier Imaging Marathon on the night of March 26-27, 2019 from Summerfield, North Carolina, USA. Much to his surprise, he was 110 for 110 by time M30 rose the next morning. With his Explore Scientific 127mm APO and a ZWO ASI294MC camera, he obtained really gorgeous images of all 110 Messier objects, and has arranged them in a beautiful poster. Cordial Congratulations! Awesome!Read his report andsee his photographic results!
• The"Astropolis" Club Kiev, Ukraine had 3 observers going for the Messier Marathon 2019:Smolianchuk Vitaliy did his Messier Marathon from from Vyselki near Kiev and could see 106 Messier objects (missing only M74, M77, M55, and M30), using a 12-inch Dobsonian during the night of March 30/31.Alexander Khokholya andAlexander Naumov Alexander looked for a location away from clouds and selected a place at 49.444464 N, 30.216270 E on the next night, March 31/April 1. They could see 97 Messier objects using a 150 mm Newtonian on the equatorial mounting. Alexander Naumov was also able to photograph about half of all Messier objects using a 127-mm refractor. SeeSmolianchuk's results andthe two Alexanders' results!
• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society, UK undertook his Messier Marathon 2019 on March 31/April 1, 2019 from Lowgill observing site in the Forest of Bowland at 54.06N. in the North of England. A 10 inch F/4.7 Skywatcher Dobsonian was used this time. M74, M77 and M79 too low to observe after sunset. 61 objects followed until a break taken at 1am waiting for M104 to rise. An hour later full cloud cover arrived and remained until after dawn preventing any further observation. M33 AND M110 seen but difficult and M93 took 20 mins to locate as so low.. Good transparency overhead but slight haze near horizon. Temp -0.5 C and 25+ mph wind with significant windchill. The OTA lifting when facing into the wind but no dew!
• The2019 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again (for the 27th time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 30/31, 2019, at the observing site onSalome Energency Airfield (Hovatter Airstrip). This event was once more coordinated byRick Tejera. Some amateurs already arrived on Thursday before when weather was calm, and more on Friday with more wind, for extra night observing. A total of 82 attendants was counted on Marathon night. After the now-traditional Marathon dinner, the observing night began. Weather was clear but windy, so many observers gave up early. Eventually, 24 observers turned in checklist (18 visual, 1 under 18, and 5 imaging). Two observers saw all 110 objects visually:Tom Biermann of La Verne, CA with an 11" SCT (first full success), andJack Jones of Phoenix with his 20" f/4.5 Dobson (third). Three more observers found 109, all missing early-evening M74:Christopher Brownewell (APM 6" refractor),Doug Wiese (10" f/4 Dobson), andDaniel Sinotte (18" Dobson). Two found 108 (both missing M74 and M77):A.J. Crayon (8" SCT) andJim Barnett (9.25" SCT); two more found 107, three found 105, each one found 104, 102 and 100 objects. 13-year-oldMolly Wiese found 31. Two imagers photographed 109 objects (missing M74):Ray Taylor (ST 120 with Night Vision) andDavid Dilmore (8" Newtonian).Dominic Michela (100mm ED refractor) imaged 108,Brian Poole (SV 80mm refractor) imaged 93, andPaul Lind (8" f/3.6 Astrograph, Home brewed) imaged 99. Rick Tejera has provided anevent report and the2019 All Arizona Messier Marathon Results list.
• Pavel Vorobiev participated in the 2019 Messier Marathon organized by the of the University of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico on March 9-10. 2019. He successfully photographed 109 Messier Objects (all but M30) with an Explore Scientific "Comet Hunter", 6" f/4.8 with Nikon D750 camera.See poster with his results!
• SPACE India attempted and recorded another Messier Marathon on the night of March 30, 2019 from one of the darkest sky in India,Astroport. The six observers,Mr. Sachin Bahmba,Mr. Vikrant Narang,Mr. Ankit Singh,Ms. Ritu Kumari,Mr. Rahul, andMr. Ratan, successfully observed 63 of the 110 Messier Objects, about a dozen being shined out by a 10-degree high moon in Sagitarius, with weather otherwise perfect.Read their report andobservation log!
• The first Messier Marathon of theObservatório Municipal de Campinas Jean Nicolini was realized on 01/06/19 with weather conditions not too favorable (the day was hot and humid with some clouds). The team was made by four persons:Rafael Leão,Márcia Leão,Julio Lobo andRubens Azevedo. We used an 15" obsession classic dobsonian without any electronics (almost all star map reading was done by Márcia) with a nagler 26mm eyepiece. Within 6 hours of marathon (approximately from 18h to mid night) they were able to catch 46 Messier Objects (and 3 southern objects) during the marathon.Read Rafael's report!

Note: Regretfully, many scheduled events for the 2020 Messier Marathon have been cancelled due to the events concerning the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Vitaly Smolianchuk andVyacheslav Bogdanets of the Astronomy club "Astropolis" (Kiev, Ukraine) did "Messier Memory Marathon", on March 15-16, 2020 ,from "base" of astronomy club in Vyselka near Kiev, Ukraine (49.903N, 31.007W). Final result was 103 Objects (M54, M69, M70, M72, M73, M55, M30 were missed). Preparation lasted 2 month, but it was not easy, because Moon located near M9 and all important stars of Sagittarius were visible only in the finderscope. It was also a pleasant surprise that the surface brightness of the M75 is greater than the brightness of the twilight sky. There was used folowing instruments: 8" Dob, 100ED Orion f/9, bino 7*50, 12" Dob. SeeVitaly's Results andVyacheslav's Results!
• Dave Whittle held his 2020 Messier Marathon on the 22/23 March 2020 from Llyn Aled reservoir North Wales UK 53.1N, using his home built airline carry on 10in 4.7 Skywatcher optics truss telescope. 96 Messier objects viewed, but M74 unable to be seen with even the 'hat' not visible, from suspected high cirrus combined with low altitude. M77 and M79 not attempted as both had set below nearby western embankment. M2 attempted but not seen due to light dome from the town of Denbigh 10 miles away. Around 10 objects would not rise this far north - 53.1N. Clear all night with a good breeze which kept any dew away from the fully exposed truss tube telescope at -1.5C. The scope was made for a visit to Tenerife this week to complete his full Messier marathon but due to current events the flight was cancelled 3 days before departure. A good test of the telescope which hinted at a few minor balance modification requirements for my now rescheduled Tenerife trip in 2023.
• Radu Anghel held his Messier Marathon in Bacau, Romania on the night of 18-19 March 2020. He completed a total of 103 Messier objects. He used three instruments: SW 4" ED100 refractor (103 objects), Zeiss Telementor 63/840mm (68 objects), Levenhuk Atom 10x50 binoculars (52). Missing objects were M15 (clouds), M75, M72, M73, M55, M75 and M30.Read his report!
• Viktor Trnka of theCzech Astronomical Society undertook a special multi-night Messier Marathon, observing the Messier Objects in the catalog sequence from M1, M2, M3, etc. to M110. The endeavor took 6 nights, from March 21/22 to March 26/27, 2020, and was done from six locations at 51d N near the Czech/Polish border, using 5 pairs of binoculars: 2x54 wide, 12x50, 16x70, 18x70 and 48x125. During these nights he ran four regular Messier Marathons, three with score 108 (missing only M55 and M30), and one with 106 (missing also M69 and M70). In the end, he had scored 108 Messier obejcts in the right sequence, missing only M30 and M55. Congratulations for this great observational adventure and success!Read his short report or hislonger report in Czech!
• F J JR Rains of theBirmingham Astronomical Society of Alabama (BAS) undertook a Messier Marathon from the driveway at his home on March 25/26. From that location and this time, only 55 objects are possible. Observing with his small 89-mm Questar telescope, he succeeded in observing 39 objects, the other 16 too faint for the small telescope.Read his report! Alsonote the Messier Marathon 2020 page of the BAS.
• Paul Shubert undertook an Imaging Messier Marathon from Hawksnest Observatory, Sandia Park, New Mexico, on March 24/25. Using as telescopes and optics a Celestron 200mm SCT, an Explore Scientific 102 ED APO, and a Canon 200mm f/4 FD, and as a Camera a Sony Alpha-6000 APS-C with LifePixel H-alpha filter, he could image 106 Messier objects: Congratulations! See his results on his astrophoto blog andRead his report!
• The2020 All Arizona Messier Marathon, sponsored again (for the 28th time) by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) for March 28/29, 2020, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
• Don Machholz conducted two Messier Marathons in 2020, both from Stargazer Ranch, Arizona: On March 15/16, 2020, despite a 50% moon lighting up the early morning sky, he managed to see 109 objects. He missed M30; he did it with his trusty 6” reflector! This was his 50th Messier Marathon! On March 23/24, Don ran his 51st Messier Marathon, and achieved a full score of 110 Messier Objects, his 7th full success! Don had an incredible night on the Messier Marathon, achieving 110 out of 110 with his beloved homemade 10” reflector (f/3.8) from 1975! It's the same telescope he used to visually discover 4 out of 12 of his comets! Unfortunately, this turned out to become his last Messier Marathon: He passed away in August 2022 and is greatly missed by the Messier Marathon community. Thanks to Michelle Machholz for reporting!

Note: With regret, many envisiged events for the 2021 Messier Marathon have not been scheduled or have been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

• Daniel Otte of theSouthern Oregon Skywatchers undertook his 2021 Messier Marathon on March 12, 2021 from two locations: Club Lower Dark Site and at Home. Using his telescope Meade 2120 (10 inch SC), he observed 104 Messier Objects, missing only M55, M75, M2, M72, M73, and M30. All missed objects laying in trees and light glow from Ashland Oregon.
• CloudyNights Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) Team organized an electronic team Messier Marathon on March 20-21, 2021, starting at 5pm ET through 8 am ET (see their announce). 8 team members managed a COVID-safe online marathon through all 110 Messier objects:Roel Boudry,Robert Chandler,Jeffrey Horn,Sanjeev Joshi,Doug Lucas,Frank Rossetti,Gary Shaw, andPhil Wolski. They also managed to image each object using electronically-assisted astronomy. They kept a spreadsheet of their progress and worked together as a team throughout the night. Seetheir report (also asPDF) and their tracking sheet.
• The Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) had planned for Messier Marathon sessions at GNTO (their club observatory - the General Nathan Twining Observatory, in Belen, NM) for March 12th and 13th, but the weather did not cooperate. Nevertheless, some individual marathons were attempted on other days:
  On March 17-18th, using a 102mm, f/7 refractor on a manual alt-az mount with a single eyepiece (17mm Plossl),Jim K was able to view 109 Messier objects, missing only M30 in Capricornus because of incoming clouds. For most of the evening the seeing and transparency were good, with the Pleiades/M45 being the first object seen at 7:50pm (in twilight). A 4.2-day (19%) Luna did not hinder views too much.
  On March 15-16th just before a snowstorm, fellow TAAS memberJohn Laning located 85 Messier objects at his home in the Manzano Mountains east of Albuquerque using his 11-inch Edge f/7 SCT and a red dot finder, viewing as many as his trees and storm clouds would allow.
  On March 10-11th TAAS memberBen Burnett also saw 109 Messier objects from SE Belen using his 8-inch reflector, missing M30 because of sky brightness.
• J Gregory Moxness undertook his 2021 Messier Marathon on March 2, 2021 from the Theory of Everything (ToE) Observatory at his home in NE Tucson Arizona. Using his Skywatcher MN-190 telescope, he observed 100 Messier Objects, with only 10 missing Messiers due to low E/SE obstructions: M2, M15, M30, M54, M55, M69, M70, M72, M73, M75.

  A video compilation of the results is available at: http://theoryofeverything.org/images/Messier%20Marathon.mp4

• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society, U.K. ran his Messier Marathon for this year from the Forest of Bowland Northern England 54.0N using 10in f4.7, on April 9/10, 2021. Good clear nill wind night without dew but temp down to minus 4.5C. Unable to observe during March due to covid lockdown restrictions, so the usual early evening objects had already set before twilight due to shorter night and daylight saving clock change. 94 objects followed but he was unable to observe as not above the horizon or missed due to low altitude M74,M77,M33,M79,M83,M68. The other objects do not rise this far north this month. This was his most enjoyable night in sub zero conditions in 35 years of observing.
• Tom Hoffelder ran another Messier Marathon on April 8/9, 2021 from Norway, Maine, using his 8-inch f/6 Newtonian. This was 9 years after his last, and 44 years after his first Messier Marathon! Between 8:15 and 11:30 pm, he was able to observe 58 Messier Objects.Read his report!

• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society, U.K. once again observed at the Forest of Bowland Lancashire U.K. 54N using 10" F/4.7 truss tube Dobs on the March 5/6, 2022. Another windy night with a slight dawn frost. 90 objects observed but being so early in the month a few Sagittarius objects were washed out by the dawn light/cloud bank. Unable to view or missed M63, M68, M83, M62, M6, M7, M24, M23, M21, M28, and M22. The remaining objects would not rise this far north on any March Marathon. Often frustrated by more cloud than forecast with a light rain shower after the Virgo group which was quicker/easier than M81/82 due to being at the zenith.
• TheNorth Central Kansas Astronomical Society (NCKAS) attempted another Messier Marathon on April 1/2, 2022 again after a 10 year break! They had planned a virutal cooperative effort with astronomers from across the states of Kansas and Texas participating this year. Eventually, 4 amateur astronomers participated:Todd K. Tuttle using a Meade LightBridge 16" f/4.5 Truss-Tube Dobsonian and Celestron NexStar 8",Tracy Tuttle with a TPO 6in (152 mm) f/9 Ritchey-Chretien (photographic) and 8" Orion Newtonian Dob + 20x80 binoculars (visual), andBrett & Madison Beck with Orion 8" f/4.9 Newtonian and Bushnell IQCrew 76mm f/9.2 Newtonian. Because at their observing site at Beloit turned out to be a really poor night with high soupy clouds, this turned out to become a mini marathon with only 7 Messier objects observed: M1, M36, M37, M42, M45, M46, and M47. See their Messier Marathon site athttp://messier.nckas.org/.
• The2022 All Arizona Messier Marathon was held on the weekend of March 26/27, 2022. After two years missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event was sponsored again by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) (for the 28th time). This time it was held at another site, theAntenna Site Observing Location. After the two years of abstinence, results were handed in by four observers this time:Dominic Michela of EVAC obtained the highest score with 108 Messier Objects, observed with an Explore Scientific 102 refractor (f/7), missing only M74 in the evening and M30 in the morning. He also took CCD photos of 107 objects (missing also M37 photographically, due to mistake).Brian Poole of SAC found 103 objects with a Stellarvue SV80ST 80mm (f/6) refractor, missing M33, M31, M32, M110, M76, M34, and M79, obtaining images with ASI 1600mm.Terry Shaw, also of SAC, observed 97 objects with a 90mm Maksutow, andThomas Curry of SAC found 80 with a Celestron C9.25 SCT, imaging with Cannon T7i DSLR. Congratulations to all! These results and report are also published, together with some images, in SAC News for April 2022.
  Also see SAC's Announce on Facebook (note theirfacebook page).
• From March 3rd through March 6th this year, theBangalore Astronomical Society organized a star party in the hills of Coorg, Karnataka, India, which doubled up as a Messier Marathon event. Most observers choose March 5th as their marathon night, but any night was used as long as it was done in a single night. First time marathonersJagan Mohan Gorti (25x100 binocular),Srinivas GV (8" Dob),Nagaraja Sundaresh (10", 16", binoculars) andPraveen Kulkarni (10" Dob) respectively scored 70, 59, 79, and 80 objects respectively. First time marathonersSuresh Chakrapani (8"),Komal Bhardwaj (10"),Nilesh Jain used go-to telescopes to score 100, 70, and 55 objects, respectively.Sriram andVipin worked with Nilesh Jain as a team to observe 30 objects.Divya Pai worked withShashikiran Kolar andKomal Bharadwaj to observe 101 objects.Mihir Athale, who traveled from a different state, found 63 objects from memory only (although he had an order list for reference) in his first marathon through a range of available telescopes. Finally, repeat marathonerShashikiran Kolar used his 8" f/6 telescope to observe 106 Messier objects from memory only -- memorizing both positions and the order, missing M2, M73, M30 and M52. To add to this feat, he also observed 163 NGC objects and a carbon star (R Leporis) by memory only.

  There were many other attendees at the star party without personal telescopes. Some of the aforementioned marathoners were also able to share their views with the attendees as they worked through the marathon. -- Akarsh Simha

• Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) Global Team (formerly CloudyNights EAA Team) organized two electronic team Messier Marathon events this year, the first on March 5-6, 2022, the second on April 1-2, 2022. In the middle of the pandemic, these have been COVID-safe online events.See annou8nce. The first event on March 5-6, 13 attendees managed to observe 109 Messier objects, missing only M30 in the morning. They also managed to image each object as well with their EAA strategies. Attending observers:Jonathan Betts,Roel Boudry,Tom Calvin,Brian Halkett,Jeffrey Horn,Mike Jerry,Doug Lucas,Bryan McClanahan,Michael Owen,Marco Prunotto,Frank Rossetti,Kym Thalassoudis,Phil Wolski.
  The second event on April 1-2, attended by 25 observers around the world, turned out to become a full success: They observed all 110 Messier Objects and collected multiple images of each, working as a team through the night. Attendees:Jonathan Betts,Tom Calvin,Michael Camilleri,Bob Chandler,Michael Dobres,Rick Fanning,Stefan Gapko,Brian Halkett,Randy Hodges,Curtis Horn,Jeff Horn,Kai Houlihan,Paul Huntley,Mike Jerry,Doug Lucas,Bryan McClanahan,Carl Olson,Michael Owen,John Rogers,Frank Rossetti,Avery Ry,Kym Thalassoudis,Brian Threlkeld,Elizabeth Vo,Phil Wolski. Congratulations for this big success!See Doug Lucas' report!
• Vitaliy Smolianchuk andVyacheslav Bogdanets of theAstronomy club "Astropolis", Kiev, Ukraine, held an extremely remarkable and successfulMessier Plus Marathon on September 25/26, 2022 in the very difficult war times. After good experience with the Messier Memory Marathon in 2020 (103) and 2021(99), they decided to try it from memory only, from the club's base near Kiev. Vitaliy Smolianchuk used a 200/1000 Newtonian dobson, Vyacheslav Bogdanets used 100 ED on the eq/mount. Eventually, both of them successfully hunted downall 110 Messier Plus Marathon objects without any maps. Cordial congratulations!See their report as well asVitaliy's andVyacheslav's triumphant results!

• Tal Givoly undertook a Messier Marathon on March 16/17 2023 from Southern Israel, a solo event. This was done simultaneously as a visual and a photographic marathon session, perhaps the first of its kind! For visual observation an 8" f/6 Dobson (40-year-old Meade!) plus Meade Star Adventure 80, for his EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) photographic session a 130/650 Bresser Newtonian and wide-field LAOWA 100mm f/2.8 lens. He successfully observed 109 Messier Objects visually (missing only M30) and 108 objecrs photographically (missing M30 and M110). Congratulations for this solo double success!See Tal's report!
• TheNorth Central Kansas Astronomical Society (NCKAS) conducted a Messier Marathon from Benoit, Kansas on March 18/19, 2023. The bitterly cold session, only two observers attended:Tracey Tuttle using his 8" f/5 Orion f/6 Newton Dobsonian, andTodd K. Tuttle with a Meade LightBridge 16" f/4.5 Truss-Tube Dobson. Both hunted down 103 Messier Objects, missing only M74, M55, M75, M72, M73, M2, M30.Read Todd's report! Also see NCKAS' page for theMessier Marathon 2023, and their Event Page.
• Ashirwad Tillu from the region of Mumbai, India did his third Messier Marathon from his second home at Pandhurli, on Ghoti Sinnar Road near Nashik, India, about 150 km from Mumbai, using an 18 inch Dobsonian (F/4.5). Because of clouds and light pollution from the nearby village, he lost M74, M31, M32, M33, M52 and M110 in the evening (could recover M52 later in the morning sky), but sky cleared at 8:30 pm and he could successfully locate 105 Messier Objects, finally also a perfect M30. He also looked at some other objects, including dwarf planet/asteroid Ceres. Congratulations for this excellent success!Read his report!
• Dave Whittle completed thefull 110 on Saturday/Sunday, 18th/19th March 2023. First object M77 at 20.08 hrs, and M30 at 5.59am. Dave observed from two locations in Tenerife: The first 48 objects were observed near mirador de las narices del teide on Tenerife for a western horizon, then a move to Izana Observatory for a south eastern horizon. M74 being the most difficult object. He observed with 10 inch skywatcher optics within a homemade airline carry on truss tube dobsonian. 7x50 zeiss binoculars also used. Congratulations! Find his report in the Liverpool Astronomical Society eNewsletter - May 2023 issue!
• Richard Wheeler of the Ancient City Astronomy Club in St. Augustine, FL and the the Northeast Florida Astronomical Society (NEFAS) tried and completed the110 Messiers from Elkton, FL, on March 23/24, 2023. Congratulations!See his report!
• Doug Lucas and his friendStuart Parkinson from from Tauranga, New Zealand did their 2023 Messier Marathon during the night of March 14-15. Stuart was observing "live" with Doug via electronically-assisted astronomy (EAA) for each of the Messier objects. Using a RASA 11-inch telescope from the equipment at Emerald Hills Skies Observatory of Louisville, Kentucky, they were able to view 109 of the 110 objects, missing only M30. They live-streamed the entire observing session; the recording of the live stream can be ssen at: https://www.youtube.com/live/yrK77N41rIk?feature=share. Alsoread Doug's report and results!
• The Hermosillo Astronomy Club in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico held their Second 2023 Messier Marathon on March 26/27 at the Campestre Real del Molinito Observing site, near the city of Hermosillo. 2 participants attended. Marathon results obtained were:Dr Salvador Aguirre: 108 objects with a 8-inch S/C go to Telescope.,Miguel Ibarra G: 108 objects with a 8-inch S/C go to Telescope. Missing objects: M77, M74 (below in the horizon, Moon and Clouds) Read Salvador's report! (in spanish)
• Ace Wings lead a group of 51 astronomy enthusiasts, amateur and professional astronomers, who conducted the Messier marathon on 25 March 2023 from Nakshatra Astrofarm, Balshetpada, Maharashtra, India. The group consisted of people ranging from 7 to 65 years of age using 5 instruments. The sky was clear supporting favorable conditions for the Messier Marathon, but the moon was in its waxing crescent phase, so some early objects could not be observed, while the last objects were lost in dawn. Eventually the group were able to observe a total of 77 objects.Read Ace Wings' report with results!
• Viktor Trnka of the Czech Astronomical Society had a series of 3 Messier Marathons between March 17 and March 20 (17/18, 18/19, 19/20) from Madeira. The first night, he observed 108 (miss M74, M30, with binoculars 12x50). During the second night, he foundall 110 objects with 10" f/4 Dob - and did it again next night! Allfrom memory only! Congratulations!Read his short report and his longerReport in Czech!
• Aleksandr Smirnov, a Russian amateur astronomer living in Kyrgyzstan, undertook a Messier Marathon on March 23/24 from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (43d N). Using a 130mm Newtonian telescope (Sky-Watcher 130 pds + HEQ 5 Pro Mount), 28mm eyepiece and Pocket Sky Altas for search. He found 104 Objects, missing only M77, M55, M75, M72, M73, and M30.
• The2023 All Arizona Messier Marathon, this year primarily hosted by theEast Valley Astronomy Club (EVAC) and supported by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC), was held on March 25/26, 2023 (rescheduled from March 18/19), for the first time at theNorth Hovatter Observing Field. This was the 29th in the row. 6 observers turned in results:Dominic Michela foundthe full 110,Mason Klenken - 106,Mike Cawley - 105,Don Wrigley - 100,Paul Lind - 93, andJoan McGue - 56. See results account on facebook! [Local copy of Result account]
• Pavel Zhavoronkov on March 17/18, 2023 from Vologda, Russia (59d N) found 90 objects, a record for this northern latitude!
• Jan Hattenbach andRonald Stoyan completed a full marathon on March 18/19, 2023 from La Palma, with a 10-inch Dobson. This was Ronald's first full marathon, Jan's first Messier Marathon at all. They also found 108 objects with 15x56 binoculars, 47 with 2x54 opera glas, and 23 with the naked eye.See Jan's report!

Again we plan to include all reported 2024 Messier Marathon results here.

• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society once again did a Messier Marathon in 2024, his tenth consecutive year of Messier Marathoning! This year, he observed from near Aberdaron on the llyn peninsula in North Wales, U.K. on the 7th March, 2024, using 10 inch telescope, 20 x 80 and 7 x 50 binoculars this time. 99 messier objects observed out of a possible 101 at that location: Because of stiff wind, he had to choose a lower site than intended, which made the objects M2 and M6 unobservable due to nearby hills, and poor transparency made locating many low altitude objects difficult. These 99 being harder to find than my 110 last year. Well done!Read his report!
• On March 9th of this year theMount Lemmon SkyCenter hosted a Messier Marathon on the top of Mount Lemmon near Tucson, Arizona. Utilizing a 32" and 24" RCOS telescope (named the Schulman and Phillips telescope respectively), as well as a 150mm Esprit SkyWatcher refractor and some 10x50 binoculars, they achieved the following results with our guests, a group of about 15: 6 observers found 109 (Travis Deyoe (organizer),Briana Dyrness,Ted Kowalski,Fred Kowalski,Nadine Natour, andChristiaan Triebert), all mssing M30;Anna Sofia found 74, andColton Jang andRoslyn Chu reported 68 successful observations. Other participants includedRoz Roberts (operator),Vanessa Thomas (operator),Elizabeth Hubbard,Elizabeth Hourican, and two to be named. Congratulations to all!Read Travis Deyoe's report!
• TheSociedad Astronómica Guadalajara, A.C. held its 2024 Messier Marathon on March 9-10th in Atemajac de Brizuela, Mexico. The favorable weather conditions permitted the sighting of 5th magnitude stars, despite some cirrus clouds appearing after midnight. Among the notable achievements in the manual category wereMaria-Luisa Montaño's with 90 objects using an 8-inch f/5.9 newtonian, and Gerardo Rizo's observation of 34 objects with a 6-inch handmade newtonian. Unfortunately, M30 remained elusive and couldn't be observed. A highlight of the night was the visual and photographic observation of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, situated in Andromeda.Read MaLuisa Montaño's report!
• TheNorth Central Kansas Astronomical Society (NCKAS) held their 2024 Messier Marathon on March 10th/11th. The night was clear, but very windy, with gusts well over 25mph. The high wind shut us down before the night was through, but even with battling the wind, we had a respectable outcome of 72 Objects viewed, and 58 Targets imaged. - Todd K. Tuttle
• Pavel Zhavoronkov ran another Messier Marathon on March 3/4, 2024 from his northern location site near Vologda city, Russia - 60 degrees of northern latitude, and with his home-made 30cm Dob, found 85 Messier Objects - good result for this northern location!Read his report!
• Ganesh Raja andRanjit Neelakandan of theBangalore Astronomical Society (BAS) of Bangalore, India ran their 2024 Messier Marathon on March 12, 2024 from Southern India using a 10" inch Skywatcher Dobsonian with GOTO. and a 25 mm Plossl eyepiece. Despite the initial hiccups, managed to get 97 out of the 110 objects. Missing 13 were: M52, M31, M32, M110, M74, M77, M33, M76 (alignment issues), M101 (faintness), M72, M2, M73, M30 (trees, too close to horizon).Read Ranjit's short report andGanesh's comprehensive results report!
• The2024 All Arizona Messier Marathon, was co-hosted this year by theSaguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) and theEast Valley Astronomy Club (EVAC). It was held on March 9/10, 2024, again (for the 2nd time) at theNorth Hovatter Observing Field. This was the 30th All Arizona Messier Marathon in the row! Note SAC's Messier Marathon annnounce! 60-70 participants attended this event, 12 observers turned in results: Winner isSteve Rottas (109), followed byCraig Averell (108),Don Wrigley,Mike Cawley,Ray Malcolm (all 107). Others participating includedGeorge Klenklen (105),Terry Shay (104),Andrew Thorpe (103),Joan McGue (83),Jack Jones (62),Joe Goss (60) andBen Mirzaian (60). Congratulations to all!Read Michael Poppre's report and results!
• Doug Lucas and his friendsStuart Parkinson ("Stu") from Tauranga, New Zealand and"Tiffanyandtheshihtsu" (from California) did their 2024 Messier Marathon on the evening of April 6, 2024. They were able to capture 108 of the 110 Messier Catalog objects, losing only M74 and M77 in the setting sun. They observed from their observatory on the southeastern edge of Louisville, KY. Doug recorded (live-streamed) the entire event at: https://www.youtube.com/live/o1ZybMXseds?si=t_jRCyDiB3dU-9QT. Various members of the community at Emerald Hills Skies observing community joined him throughout the night; Stu and Tiffanyandtheshihtsu lasted for the whole night, observing via YouTube stream.Read Doug's report and results!

Again we plan to include all reported 2025 Messier Marathon results here.

• Fred Rains of theBirmingham Astronomical Society of Alabama ran an early 2025 Messier Marathon on Friday/Saturday night, March 21/22, 2025 from the club's Chandler Mountain darkish site. Using a Celestron CPC800 with accessories, he recorded 105 Messier Objects, missing only M33 and M74 in the evening, and M72, M73, and M30 in the morning.Read his report!
• TheAstronomy Club of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, held its Fourth Messier 2025 Marathon on March 27/28 at the Observatorio Campestre Real del Molinito, near the city of Hermosillo. It was a Double Event: Visual and Photographic. Two participants,Salvador Aguirre andMiguel Ibarra G. observed both visually with 8-inch SCT, and photographically with a Seestar50, hunting down 109 objects via both methods, missing only M74. See Salvador's report (in Spanish), plus photos!
• TheBig Bang Astronomy Club, Rajkot Gujarat, INDIA held their Messier Marathon on March 29/30, 2025 at Pragteshwar Mahadev Temple, Kalawad Road, Rajkot, Gujarat state of India. Equipment used was 7 Dobson telescopes: 1 of 12-inch, 2 of 10-inch, and 4 of 8-inch aperture. 18 observers attended and reported results: Three observed 106 of 110 Messier objects:Neelesh Rana,Shaurya Rana andYash Tank; three found 104:Mayank Raichura,Deeva Raichura andDeepak Parmar; four found 80:Dhruv,Parth,Muffadal,Prem; two scored 88:Yatharth Tank andMegh Joshi, and three found 92:Bhautik,Vansh andKevin.Read Neelesh Rana's report!
• Dave Whittle of theLiverpool Astronomical Society once again obsereved from Salfur Cottage in Rhiw near Aberdaron on the Llyn peninsula in North Wales, U.K. on the evening of the 28/29th March 2025. 78 objects observed before clouds rolled in with nothing seen of the Corvus, Scutum and Sagittarius regions. Very good transparency before midnight. once again 10in Dobs used along with 7x50 binoculars.
• TheLas Vegas Astronomical Society hosted a Messier Marathon the night of March 29/30, 2025. Their event was clear at the start but clouded over and we only got about 1.5-2 hours of observing in before the clouds covered everything. Various members observed between 19 and 30 objects. (Mig Ponce)
• The2025 Arizona Spring Star Party and Messier Marathon was held over two nights: Friday March 28/29 and Saturday March 29/30, 2025. The event is rebranded from formerAll Arizona Messier Marathon, Messier Marathon night was March 29/30, 2025. It was hosted again by theTheSaguaro Astronomy Club (for the 31st time in a row). Place was once more theNorth Hovatter Observing Field west of Phoenix, Arizona. There was good attendance over the weekend for the entire event, and they had 9 participants turn in Messier object lists:Brian Poole found 109 objects with his 152mm refractor, he missed M30 due to low clouds.James Yoder used a 7" MAK and found 100, missing early PM and late AM objects.Terry Shay found 76 with a 90mm MAK-CAS,Wayne Thomas 72 with 8" SCT,Luke Edens observed 61 with a Seestar S30,Brent Archinal found 53 with a 13" Newtonian,Dean Newton observed 53 with a Seestar S50,Joan Mcgue found 43 with an 8" Newton, and finallyJulie Brozo did a visual Messier Marathhon and found two: M45, M42 with 7mm Binoculars (her eyes!)
  Michael Poppre (SAC Secretary) has contributed theresults list, Tom Curry (SAC President) contributed amore detailed report which can also be found in the club newslettter (with pictures): https://www.saguaroastro.org/wp-content/sac-newsletters/2025/April.pdf
  Brian Poole also put together a video diary of sorts on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekwwxvEmaiY

Again we plan to include all reported 2026 Messier Marathon results here.

The Messier Marathon community mourns the loss ofDon Machholz(October 7, 1952 - August 9, 2022), co-inventor and record-breakingMessier Marathoner.Don Machholz commemorative site

If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, pleasesend me your or your group'sresults, or the link to your results page ! Also send me past results which are not already in this page !

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
[contact]

Last Modification: July 2, 2025