C. E. Steuart Dewar
Morganton, Georgia USA
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Messier
Marathon 2007 Results: 109!
(clouded out in 2008 
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 This was
our second Marathon year, again with Steuart Dewar and Kelly Maneyapanda at the
Gorilla Haven observing site. Final tally was 109 out of 110. This is
a near-perfect score as M30 is not really visible from this latitude
(common wisdom is that you have to be South of 35° to even have a
vague chance of catching it, and we're at 34°56'N). All observing was
with the Saturn III (39x100) binoculars.This year, we decided we were not going to get cold and were well prepared for it. It was very cloudy though - in fact for around 4 1/2 hours (11p-3:30a), it was completely overcast and so no observations were recorded. Fortunately, the clouds just cleared up enough by 3:30am to allow us to finish racking up a near-perfect tally! Our score and those of other astronomers is listed on the offical SEDS.ORG web page! We're already preparing for the 2008 Marathon - our plan is to use the 15" obsession to see if we can catch m30 in the twilight. Compared with 2007, 2008 should be more difficult for the evening objects and easier for the morning objects. Our Messier tracking report for all the objects
is here (observing notes are general notes when the
objects are in ideal observing positions, not when observed for the
Marathon!). The Gorilla Haven observing site is less than 10 miles
from Woodruff which has a ClearSky Clock that I sponsor for the
benefit of local astronomers...
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Messier Marathon 2006 Results: 104 This was a first attempt at the Messier Marathon** with Steuart Dewar & Kelly Maneyapanda at the Gorilla Haven observing site where we work. Final tally was 104 observed out of all 110 Messier objects on the night of March 26. We had missed M74 (Phantom), M77 and M33 in the evening hours, and missed M72/M73 and M30 in the morning hours. These were recorded with a pair of Miyauchi Saturn III binoculars (39x100mm). Next year we hope to push this up to at least 108 (M74 and M30 are really tough, so we're still dubious about catching those!). By 5:30am at the end of the run, it was dropping below 20°F, and it was COLD! **In the Messier Marathon, you have to observe as many of the 110 Messier Deep Sky Objects in a single night without any mechanical assistance (no go-to scopes or setting circles!). We include NGC 5866 as M102, and also include M110 which at this point are pretty universally accepted as part of the list of 110 objects that make up the Marathon. |
Gorilla Haven Observing site
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ClearSky Clock (from about 9mi away):
Astrophotographs
These photographs were taken with either a 5" TeleVue NP-127 APO, Celestron 9.25" SCT, Celestron 8" SCT, TMB 105/650 APO, or an 80mm WO Super APO on a Vixen Sphinx Mount with a Toucam II webcam or SkyNyx 2.1c Camera. Images were acquired with K3ccdtools and then stacked and processed in Registax. Images were sharpened and tweaked with Adobe Photoshop. All images (c) 2005-2007, C. E. Steuart Dewar. Newest pictures are at the top here...
 Sinus Iridium - TMB 105/650 at F31 with 5x Powermate, SkyNyx 2.1c Camera. The two craters near center are Helicon (25km) and LeVerrier (20km). Note the subtle striae in the Maria areas. |
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 Moon in the Pleiades on 08Apr2008. Canon EOS10D at ISO100, 4s at F6, TMB 105/650 at Prime Focus |
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 Total Lunar Eclipse on February 20, 2008. Saturn is at lower left. This photograph was taken shortly after the end of totality as it moved out of the umbra. Canon 10-D, Sigma 170-500m Zoom at 500mm. |
 Moon
during totality. This was taken with a Canon SD-500 digital camera
held up |
 Sun
on Jan 27, 2008 - Canon 500 digital camera held up to the eyepiece |
 Sun
on Jan 27, 2008 - Canon 500 digital camera held up to the eyepiece |
 Mars, showing rotation in just one hour.
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 Mars on morning of 19-Sep-2005 (3:30am EST). Image taken with TeleVue NP-127 (5" APO) at f52 (2x/5x TV Barlow/Powermate)
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 Mars on morning of 21-October-2005 (1:45am EST). Image taken with TeleVue NP-127 (5" APO) at f52 (2x/5x TV Barlow/Powermate). Note the several dust storms at the top - such as the prominent one over Solis Planum.
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 Mars on evening of 29-October-2005 (11:15pm EST). Image taken with TeleVue NP-127 (5" APO) at f52 (2x/5x TV Barlow/Powermate). |
 Mars on evening of 28-October-2005 (11:45pm EST). Image taken with a William Optics 80mm Fluorite APO at f60 (2x/5x TV Barlow/Powermate). This is a remarkable image from such a small scope (compare with image on left with the 127mm TeleVue Scope!).
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.jpg) Europa Just
about to exit Jupiter (10 0'clock position) with Io off to the right and a bit more aggressive
sharpening to highlight surface details |
Europa transit across Jupiter on 1-May-2005 (black spot in second
and third images is the shadow of Europa). Third image shows Europa just exiting (around the 10 o'clock position). Second and
third images also show the Great Red Spot (which is actually a pale
orange at this point) on the left side of the lower equatorial band). |
Jupiter on May 17th, 2006 showing GRS and Oval BA (Red Spot Jr.)
just
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 Slightly lower contrast version taken in 2nd week of May, 2005 also with Europa and Io
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 Image of Saturn clearly showing the Cassini division in the rings. The Crepe ring is also visible (esp. right in front of the planet) as is the South South Temperate zone and South equatorial belt, and perhaps a hint of what would be the equatorial band (on the right side). Taken April 22, 2005
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 International Space Station flies by Jupiter on night of July 8, 2006 - single frame of AVI shot at 60fps-1/200th sec on SKYnyx camera A short movie of the ISS as it whizzes by at very high speed can be seen by clicking here. |
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More aggressively sharpened version of above image shows a definite hint of the Encke Minima in the A ring (although some might argue this could be
an artifact of the processing...). |
-take2.jpg) Saturn, November 12, 2005, 3:30am EST, TeleVue NP 127 (5" APO) at f26. Note the prominent storm at the top edge of the South Polar region.
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 Clavius -
taken with a TMB105/650 Refractor at f31 with a SkyNyx 2.1 Camera |
 Gassendi and
Mare Humorum taken with a TMB105/650 Refractor at f31 with a SkyNyx
2.1 Camera |
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Plato and Vallis Alpes.
Taken with a TMB105/650 Refractor at f31 with a SkyNyx
2.1 Camera. Points of interest: |
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 Another photo of Vallis Alpes - this with an 8" SCT (Celestron C8), SkyNyx 2.1c Camera. |
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Rupes Recta (the "Great Wall"). Taken with a Celestron C8 on a
Sphinx Mount at F25 with a SkyNyx 2.1c Camera. |
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The three craters named after the Apollo 11 astronauts in the Sea of
Tranquility. The smallest crater, Collins, is just 2.4km across. |
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 Moon with Saturn III Binoculars - Canon SD-500 digital camera just held up to the eyepiece(!) |
 Moon taken with William
Optics 80mm SuperAPO at F6 with SKYnyx Camera - mosaic of two images
on an undriven(!) AltAz mount. |
 Venus, Moon and
Jupiter on evening of September 6th, 2005 |
 Moon, Venus and
Jupiter on evening of September 7th, 2005
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 Comet C/2006 M4 (Swan) on night of October 28th, 2006, 2 days after outburst when it suddenly brightened by two full magnitudes. To the right of comet Swan is M13 - the huge globular cluster in Hercules. 8x30s @ F2.8 with 200mm lens on Canon-10D. |
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And now for something
completely different.... |
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The ever intrepid CESD braving severe thunderstorms on the night of
April 1 in his epic,
breakthrough endeavor.... |
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