MnAstro Forums

Greetings all,

Well, lets' try this again! Perhaps ole' man winter won't show up and burden our observing field with white.

Next weekend - May 3/4 - is the annual Virgo Venture as well as the replaced Messier Marathon for those who would prefer. I have attached the Virgo Venture list - 25 galaxies - which will be in prime position for viewing, as well as the asterism page. There are no rules to the Virgo Venture (as there are with the 'official' Messier Marathon: no goto, no digital setting circles, but standard setting circles are okay), just finding as many of them as you can.

As with the MM and the MMMM (Mas Mini Messier Marathon), the Virgo Venture will be cancelled if cloudy (or due to 10' of snow) by our resident meterologist - Kristopher Setnes - by 4:00 pm on Friday, and will be posted on the front page of the website. Feel free to ask any questions or make comments here on this thread.

Here's to clear skies!!

Don't forget the MAS Virgo Venture webpage:

http://www.mnastro.org/virgo-venture/



Merle

The Virgo Venture is OFF for Friday night and ON for Saturday night.

The forecast models are starting to all agree today. Tonight is not looking good, and Saturday looks much better than earlier forecasted. I hope to see a bunch of people on Saturday night!

Here are some of the supporting forecasts for this decision.

Clear Outside

Canada RDPS

NOAA

See you there

The weather forecast is looking outstanding for tonight. Some, but not all, forecasts show a clouding and slight chance of precipitation, but it is not until 3am or after. It is also predicted that we will start out warm and dry. Dew probably won't be a problem until after midnight.

As previously stated, the Virgo Venture will allow "GoTo" and "PushTo" computers. The Messier Marathon does not allow such devices. There is overlap between the lists. It is acceptable, and encouraged, to submit entries for both competitions.

The Virgo checklist is posted earlier in this thread. I have created a Messier Marathon checklist with rise/set times for tonight. It is in indexed (1,2,3) order. You can bring your own list if you prefer the checklist to be in a specific order. There is a list available in an optimized observing order on the Messier Marathon page. Print your own if you want one. I will have a limited supply of the Virgo checklist and the Messier check list (below) for those who don't have a printer.

Did we mention we have prizes?

We had an outstanding night at Cherry Grove. It started out cloudy, but then cleared considerably. It was relatively warm. The dew was not a problem... especially for those with dew heaters. We estimate about 25 people were in attendance. Many cars were parked on the gravel road.

Thanks for coming out and making this a fun star party!

For those that logged observations and did not hand sheets in, please send me a scan/image/etc so I can gauge participation in the contests and make sure the correct winner is recognized for the Virgo list and the Messier list.

Nice job organizing it, Kris! We appreciate your efforts.

Matt Dunham and Conrad Sanders both won the Virgo Venture by observing all 25 objects on the Virgo list.

Dave Falkner won the Messier Marathon by observing 25 objects.

Congratulations! Certificates and prizes will be awarded at the next monthly meeting.

For the rest of us, the "real" prize was being able to get out and observe with an outstanding group of people.