2006 All Arizona Messier Marathon
Farnsworth Ranch (Arizona City, AZ)

March 25 - 26, 2006

25" f/5 Obsession

I attended the Messier Marathon just south of Arizona City this year - and so did about 150 other people (I think the official count was 107 vehicles). The weather was less than ideal with clouds in the west making M74 virtually impossible to see. I also missed M31, M32, M110 & M33 because of the clouds. Frustrated at no hope of getting all 110 objects, I stopped at 50 and turned on the Argo Navis and ServoCat to look at some of my favorite deep sky objects. Fortunately there was a break in the clouds for several hours which yielded some surprisingly good viewing conditions.
 

Some pictures from around the viewing area, about an hour or so before sunset.

Jack Jones being recognized as the last minute event coordinator by Saguaro Astronomy Club President Rick Tejera. AJ Crayon is the usual event coordinator but couldn't make this year's event. Jack did a great job. And he had a 20" Obsession with him that I help set up.

More instructions from Rick. You can see the clouds that obscured some of the Messier objects that I could not get after sunset.

Sunrise

All images taken with a Canon EOS 20Da with 24-70mm EF lens.

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