Messier Marathon 2003

On the occasion of the second, later date, it will be possible to combine an all-planet marathon with the Messier event, although Mercury and Neptune will be difficult; on the earlier date, Neptune will be impossible. Some comets brighter than about mag 14.0 will be visible; we will list them below, based on the JPL List of Currently Visible Comets (also note IAU's Observable Comets page, Gary Kronk's list of current comets and the Fachgruppe Kometen list):

Comet		   	      RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag    RA  (2000.0)  Dec  mag
			  	  March 27, 2003            April 1, 2003

C/2002 V1 (NEAT)              02:10.00 -23:44.8  13.2   02:26.74 -22:30.9  13.8
C/2002 X5 (Kudo-Fujikawa)     05:05.03 -11:25.2   9.0   05:19.30 -08:38.8   9.4
C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT)     05:50.4  +08:01    11.8   05:46.2  +08:42    11.9
C/2001 RX14 (LINEAR)          11:10.42 +30:58.3  10.6   11:06.56 +29:01.9  10.7
116P/Wild                     15:42.8  -21:18    12.0   15:43.5  -21:33    11.9
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1    22:14.8  -08:40    15.7   22:18.09 -08:18.3  15.7 Outbursts!
C/2002 Y1 (Juels-Holvorcem)   23:49.2  +37:37     6.6   00:02.0  +33:56     6.5

Also, meteors from various showers may occur, and depending on your location, you may be able to observe the International Space Station, ISS.

• The Saguaro Astronomy Club is again sponsoring the 2003 All Arizona Messier Marathon at the site south of Arizona City. It will be on Saturday, March 29, 2003. [Short early announce]
• The Winston-Salem Astronomical League is sponsering their first annual Messier Marathon on March 30, 2003 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Read their announce.
• The San Jose Astronomical Association will be hosting the 2003 Messier Marathon on March 29th-30th at Henry Coe State Park (see Directions) - Bob Havner, San Jose Astronomical Association
• The Northern Virginia Astronomy Club - NOVAC will held their 2003 Messier Marathon on March 29 at their Highroad observing site (from their Monthly Observing Session schedule)
• The Oklahoma City Astronomy Club will be hosting their annual Messier Marathon at the club's dark site "The Crop Circle" in Hennessey, Oklahoma (see map), on the night of March 29th and 30th, 2003. - Jeff Tibb
• This year the Mosborn Messier Marathon will take place the forth year. It will take place the last weekend in March at a rather dark side 50 km east of Frankfurt, Germany. More information is available. - Klaus Schulze-Frerichs
• The Sangomon Astronomical Society will hold its second annual Messier Marathon at Jim Egar's Panther Creek State Park on March 28-29, 2003. This site is located 30 min west of Springfield, IL, where SAS also holds its Dark Sky Star Party. - Mike Robertson
• The Austin Astronomical Society is sponsering a Messier Marathon 2003. It will be on March 28-29, 2003 at the Eagle Eye Observatory, Canyon of the Eagles Park, Lake Buchanan, Texas.
• The TUVA Astronomy Club will be holding their annual Messier Marathon (which began in 1992) on March 29th, 2003 at their site near Council Hill, Oklahoma. - David Stine (Email: DStine at exposquare.com)
• "Jyotirvidya Parisanstha, Pune", (also known as JVP) the oldest amateur astronomers association in India, will hold its annual Messier Marathon at Tamhini, on March 29/30, 2003. This site is located 60 km west of Pune where JVP also holds its monthy Dark Sky Star Party. - SAGAR GOKHALE (Ph.:4446150)
• The Annual Peoria Astronomical Society Messier Marathon will be conducted on Saturday, March 29, 2003 at the DGV (Jubilee) Observatory near Jubilee State Park, west of Peoria, Illinois. Members are encouraged to set-up by 6 pm. As usual, members are asked to check out weather reports a day or two before the event and check e-mail messages, because if it appears that it will be cloudy on the 29th, then the "cloud out" night will be the night before (28th) if weather looks more promising. - John Barra, PAS
• This year, the Muskegon Astronomical Society, Muskegon Michigan will be holding their Messier Marathon on Saturday March 29 at our observatory (see web site for directions, more info available by email). - Dennis Allen

If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, 2003 or earlier, if not already done so, please email me your or your group's results, or the link to your results page, for inclusion in our Messier Marathon Results page!

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
[contact]

Last Modification: April 14, 2003