My first Magazine Sky & Telescope - 04.2019

Messier Marathon A FAR NORTHERN MARATHON (CONTINUED) Object Constellation Type Mag(v) Size/Sep. RA Dec. M85 Com G 9.1 7′ × 5′ 12 h 25.4 m +18° 11′ M61 Vir G 9.7 6′ × 6′ 12 h 21.9 m +04° 28′ M49 Vir G 8.4 9′ × 8′ 12 h 29.8 m +08° 00′ COMMENT: End of the Virgo Cluster, take a short break Hya G 7.6 11′ × 10′ 13 h 37.0 m – 29° 52′ COMMENT: Be ready to observe early if necessary; despite the rush, I spent 10 min- utes at high power on this southern splendor that I can’t see from my backyard M83 M13 COMMENT: Her GC 5.8 20′ 16 h 41.7 m +36° 28′ Naked eye Her GC 6.5 14′ 17 h 17.1 m +43° 08′ COMMENT: You should have worked your way across the sky to fairly low in the east by about 1 a.m. local daylight time. Take a one-hour nap if you’re on schedule. M92 M57 Lyr PN 8.8 1.5′ × 1′ 18 h 53.6 m +33° 02′ M56 Lyr GC 8.3 9′ 19 h 16.6 m +30° 11′ M29 Cyg OC 6.6 7′ 20 h 23.9 m +38° 32′ M39 Cyg OC 4.6 32′ 21 h 32.2 m +48° 26′ COMMENT: Naked eye or binoculars M71 Sge GC 8.2 7′ 19 h 53.8 m +18° 47′ M27 Vul PN 7.4 8′ × 6′ 19 h 59.6 m +22° 43′ GC 5.6 23′ 15 h 18.6 m +02° 05′ GC 6.7 16′ 16 h 47.2 m – 01° 57′ GC 6.6 20′ 16 h 57.1 m – 04° 06′ COMMENT: M5 COMMENT: M12 COMMENT: M10 COMMENT: Binoculars Ser Binoculars Oph Binoculars Oph Binoculars M107 Oph GC 7.9 13′ 16 h 32.5 m – 13° 03′ M14 Oph GC 7.6 11′ 17 h 37.6 m – 03° 15′ M9 Oph GC 7.7 12′ 17 h 19.2 m – 18° 31′ M4 Sco GC 5.6 36′ 16 h 23.6 m – 26° 32′ COMMENT: Locate en route to M80 M80 Sco GC 7.3 10′ 16 h 17.0 m – 22° 59′ M19 Oph GC 6.8 17′ 17 h 02.6 m – 26° 16′ Oph GC 6.5 15′ 17 h 01.2 m – 30° 07′ COMMENT: Another southern beauty that I spent 10 minutes with at high power since I can’t see it from my backyard M62 M11 Sct OC 5.8 14′ 18 h 51.1 m – 06° 16′ M26 Sct OC 8.0 15′ 18 h 45.2 m – 09° 24′ M16 Ser OC 6.0 7′ 18 h 18.8 m – 13° 47′ COMMENT: Binoculars; the 12 objects from M16 to M7 should take less than 10 minutes M17 COMMENT: 32 galaxy is hidden by poor transparency. My latest views of M74 and M77 were on a March 19th. The new Moon of April 4–5 arrives too late in the season to allow for viewing either M74 or M77 from far northern latitudes, but I encourage you to try for them some time in March since they’re both such an iconic part of Messier Marathoning. The third difﬁcult evening object is M33. I once suc- ceeded with a detailed star chart showing the exact loca- tion of the galaxy’s brightest knot, NGC 604! One year, on April 2nd, four of us found that 7×50 binoculars revealed M33 when our Dobsonians could not. While M31 and M32 are easy, adjacent M110 is more amorphous and can’t be allowed to get too low. I prefer to use a minute to pick up M31 and its satellites before beginning what can be a long and sometimes fruitless search for M33. Seeing the globular cluster M79 isn’t considered a problem in Arizona, but its southerly declination means that my last Sgr EN 6.0 Binoculars A PR I L 2 019 • SK Y & TELESCOPE 11′ 18 h 20.8 m – 16° 11′ success here at latitude 49°N was on April 2nd when its alti- tude was 4.2°, with the Sun at an altitude of –14°. M79 might still be visible on April 4th. It’s also wise to invest a couple of minutes picking up the southerly open clusters M41, M93, M47, and M46 with bin- oculars before they get too low in horizon clouds, as unfor- tunately happened to one of our observers one night when he refused to concede defeat to M33 and move on. Are there any advantages to higher latitudes? There are only three minor ones. Southern observers make a point of getting M52, M103, and M76 early, before they set. But they’re circumpolar at this latitude, and one night when vari- able clouds prevented me from following my intended observ- ing list I eventually picked up M76 when it was at its lowest point, below the pole. All obstacles considered, if the night of April 4–5 is very transparent with clear skies right down to the western, south- ern, southeastern, and eastern horizons, the most Messier objects that can be found from latitude 49° north should be 106, possibly even 107, missing M74, M77, and probably M79 in the evening and the impossible M30 in the morning. If you also miss M33 and M55 you can still be very pleased with yourself for scoring 104 from so far north. My best result was 105 on April 8–9, 2000, when I missed M33 in thin moonlit cirrus clouds but found M55 at an altitude of only 3.3° with

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