Sky & Telescope - April 2019 - 32

Messier Marathon

A FAR NORTHERN MARATHON (CONTINUED)
Object

M85
M61
M49
COMMENT:

Constellation

Com
Vir
Vir

Type

G
G
G

Mag(v)

Size/Sep.

9.1

RA

Dec.

7′ × 5′

12h

25.4m

+18° 11′

9.7

6′ × 6′

12h

21.9m

+04° 28′

8.4

9′ × 8′

12h

29.8m

+08° 00′

End of the Virgo Cluster, take a short break

M83

Hya
G
7.6
11′ × 10′
13h 37.0m - 29° 52′
Be ready to observe early if necessary; despite the rush, I spent 10 minutes at high power on this southern splendor that I can't see from my backyard

COMMENT:

M13
COMMENT:

Her

GC

5.8

20′

16h 41.7m

+36° 28′

Naked eye

M92

Her
GC
6.5
14′
17h 17.1m +43° 08′
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.

COMMENT:

M57

Lyr

PN

8.8

1.5′ × 1′

18h 53.6m

+33° 02′

M56

Lyr

GC

8.3

9′

19h

M29

Cyg

OC

6.6

7′

20h 23.9m

+38° 32′

M39

Cyg

OC

4.6

32′

21h 32.2m

+48° 26′

8.2

7′

19h 53.8m

+18° 47′

PN

7.4

8′ × 6′

19h

59.6m

+22° 43′

GC

5.6

23′

15h 18.6m

+02° 05′

GC

6.7

16′

16h 47.2m

- 01° 57′

GC

6.6

20′

16h 57.1m

- 04° 06′

GC

7.9

13′

16h 32.5m

-13° 03′

11′

17h

37.6m

- 03° 15′

12′

17h

19.2m

-18° 31′

5.6

36′

16h

23.6m

-26° 32′

7.3

10′

16h 17.0m

-22° 59′

17′

17h

02.6m

-26° 16′

17h

01.2m

COMMENT:

M71
M27
COMMENT:

M5
COMMENT:

M12
COMMENT:

M10
COMMENT:

M107
M14
M9
M4
COMMENT:

M80
M19

16.6m

+30° 11′

Naked eye or binoculars
Sge
Vul

GC

Binoculars
Ser
Binoculars
Oph
Binoculars
Oph
Binoculars
Oph
Oph
Oph
Sco

GC
GC
GC

7.6
7.7

Locate en route to M80
Sco
Oph

GC
GC

6.8

M62

Oph
GC
6.5
15′
- 30° 07′
Another southern beauty that I spent 10 minutes with at high power
since I can't see it from my backyard

COMMENT:

M11
M26
M16

Sct
Sct
Ser

OC
OC
OC

5.8
8.0
6.0

14′

18h 51.1m

- 06° 16′

15′

18h

45.2m

- 09° 24′

7′

18h

18.8m

-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 succeeded with a detailed star chart showing the exact location 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′

18h 20.8m

-16° 11′

success here at latitude 49°N was on April 2nd when its altitude 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 binoculars before they get too low in horizon clouds, as unfortunately 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 variable clouds prevented me from following my intended observing 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, southern, 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
Sky & Telescope - April 2019

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