New Moon and Messier Marathons

Right now the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, and that means we have New Moon! If you were well rested and had the ambition, could have your own mini Messier Marathon, looking for as many dim Messier objects from dusk until dawn as you could manage. And if you had several friends with telescopes and an evening to burn, you could have a more coordinated event. In this way all of those present could dash from 'scope to 'scope as each object was centered in the eyepiece. Once everyone had a look, that operator would the move on to the next object while the group gets their look at another object at another telescope.

If you do not know about Messier objects, or about their namesake, French astronomer Charles Messier, you would do well to check out both them and him. Follow these links to learn more.

Charles Messier
http://messier.seds.org/xtra/history/biograph.html

The Messier Catalog of Objects
http://messier.seds.org/

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