Viewing Notes
March 17, 2001
Empire Ranch
I went out for the first time this year - mainly because of the weather (certainly not because I didn't have the desire or time). I'm planning on doing a Messier Marathon next week and wanted to get some "practice". I didn't get off to a very good start because I couldn't find M77 or M74 at twilight. These are going to be even tougher next week.
Here's a list of what I did get to see using the Obsession 20" f/5 reflector. All times listed are UT.
| M31 | (02:33 03/18/01) | M46 | (04:07 03/18/01) | M106 | (06:38 03/18/01) |
| M32 | (02:33 03/18/01) | M48 | (04:36 03/18/01) | M109 | (06:41 03/18/01) |
| M110 | (02:33 03/18/01) | M44 | (04:37 03/18/01) | M108 | (07:11 03/18/01) |
| M33 | (02:35 03/18/01) | M67 | (04:39 03/18/01) | M97 | (07:11 03/18/01) |
| M76 | (02:45 03/18/01) | M65 | (04:41 03/18/01) | M40 | (07:15 03/18/01) |
| M34 | (03:07 03/18/01) | M66 | (04:41 03/18/01) | M68 | (07:17 03/18/01) |
| M45 | (03:09 03/18/01) | M95 | (04:43 03/18/01) | M83 | (07:19 03/18/01) |
| M79 | (03:12 03/18/01) | M96 | (04:43 03/18/01) | M5 | (07:23 03/18/01) |
| M37 | (03:15 03/18/01) | M105 | (04:45 03/18/01) | M13 | (07:24 03/18/01) |
| M36 | (03:18 03/18/01) | M57 | (04:52 03/18/01) | M92 | (07:26 03/18/01) |
| M38 | (03:21 03/18/01) | M61 | (05:18 03/18/01) | M10 | (07:29 03/18/01) |
| M81 | (03:30 03/18/01) | M100 | (06:00 03/18/01) | M12 | (07:40 03/18/01) |
| M82 | (03:30 03/18/01) | M84 | (06:12 03/18/01) | M4 | (09:51 03/18/01) |
| M1 | (03:32 03/18/01) | M86 | (06:12 03/18/01) | M80 | (09:51 03/18/01) |
| M78 | (03:34 03/18/01) | M64 | (06:24 03/18/01) | M107 | (09:54 03/18/01) |
| M42 | (03:35 03/18/01) | M53 | (06:26 03/18/01) | M62 | (09:56 03/18/01) |
| M43 | (03:36 03/18/01) | M3 | (06:28 03/18/01) | M19 | (09:57 03/18/01) |
| M108 | (03:57 03/18/01) | M63 | (06:30 03/18/01) | M9 | (10:00 03/18/01) |
| M41 | (04:01 03/18/01) | M94 | (06:32 03/18/01) | M57 | (10:03 03/18/01) |
| M93 | (04:05 03/18/01) | M51 | (06:33 03/18/01) | ||
| M47 | (04:07 03/18/01) | M101 | (06:35 03/18/01) |
The Virgo cluster really screwed me up because there were so many galaxies that it was very difficult to tell which was which. This is the downside to having a lot of aperture and too little star hopping knowledge.
The Moon started to rise about 2 a.m. (9 a.m. UT) and things started to deteriorate: the darkness, the temperature and my comfort. The temperature display on the truck was reading 34° (looking at that was a dumb thing to do because I started to get the shivers). I had no more hot coffee and never could get rid of the shivers so I decided to call it quits about 4 a.m. (11 a.m. UT). I logged 59 Messier objects which is about half of what I hope to do this next weekend.
I was able to see Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) and Centaurus A (NGC 5128) because both were fairly high in the southern horizon. This surprised me a bit because I've always considered these to be best viewed in the summer.